Technology as a Tool to Promote Nontechnical Skills in Surgical Training

Warth, Line Lundvoll

Home // International Journal On Advances in Internet Technology, volume 13, numbers 3 and 4, 2020 // View article

Technology as a Tool to Promote Nontechnical Skills in Surgical Training

Authors:
Line Lundvoll Warth

Keywords: knowledge sharing; nontechnical skills; surgical training; mentorship; feedback; communication; videoconferencing; qualitative study

Abstract:
Surgeons require strong mentorship as part of their training because many of their skills cannot be readily acquired from textbooks; instead, their competence is a result of excellent hand practice. Access to mentors for education in surgical subspecialties is a challenge in many hospitals. Videoconferencing, which enables real-time communication between mentors and mentees at different geographical locations, can overcome this challenge and make the best knowledge available for surgeons in training. This study examines a practice in Norway in which videoconferencing was used to provide education on a laparoscopic surgical procedure. Specifically, the study explores the characteristics of communication between a mentor and mentee using videoconferencing and how this practice allows for both the learning and feedback of mentorship and nontechnical skills. The empirical material consists of video recordings of an educational trajectory comprising eight patient cases and related focus group meetings. Their communication reveals knowledge gaps and their closure through the establishment of a shared understanding. In this way, videoconferencing supported the learning of technical skills while enabling feedback on nontechnical elements. Both the mentor and mentee were able to reach their full potentials, expanding their own communicative skills and reflecting on their own abilities. Videoconferencing also affected the relationship between the mentor and mentee, who were peers and colleagues rather than participants in a traditional mentee–mentor relationship. Hence, videoconferencing practice is an activity that can expand knowledge and be used to evaluate both the mentor and mentee, assessing their nontechnical skills in surgical training.

Pages: 134 to 141

Publication date: December 30, 2020

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2652