Coaching for Improving Clinical Performance of Surgeons: A Scoping Review

Background Like multiple successful coaching programs in many fields, surgical coaching has been developed and proven to be an effective way for clinical performance improvement. However, the strategy for surgical coaching implementation varied in a multitude of aspects, causing confusion for initializing new programs. The goal of our scoping review was to summarize the current literature about surgical coaching, which can help to direct future coaching programs. Methods We reviewed published articles in PubMed/Medline and suppletory manuscripts from reference lists. The protocol of our review was registered (osf.io, Z3S8H). Studies with a detailed description of structured surgical coaching programs for clinical performance improvement were included and research on mentoring, teaching, or other types of coaching not corresponding to our definition was excluded. Variable (authors, year of publication, region, etc.) were extracted and charted for further analysis. Results A total of 117 studies were screened, and 11 met our inclusion criteria. 5/11 articles (45%) used objective measurement to assess clinicians’ performance. One study described the overall complication rates within 30 days as an outcome. Surgeons were identified as coachees in 10 studies (91%), and training of a coach was regarded as necessary in 7 studies (64%). More research chose the expert coaching model (6/11, 55%), video-based coaching (9/11, 82%), and after-surgery timeline (7/11, 64%). Multiple coaching models were identified, including PRACTICE, GROW, and WISCONSIN. Conclusions As an effective education method, surgical coaching has been conducted in many regions with varied designs. Implementation of structured surgical coaching benefits trainers in an efficient way. Also, more high-level evidence, objective measurement, and combination with new technology, were needed in future investigations.