Challenges training left-handed surgeons.

Being left-handed (LH) is considered a disadvantage in surgical training. We sought to understand the perspectives of LH trainees and surgical educators on the challenges and modifications in training LH surgeons. A survey was distributed to surgeons, surgical residents, and medical students about challenges teaching and learning surgical technique. 25 LH surgeons, 65 right-handed (RH) surgeons, and 39 LH trainees completed the survey. Compared to LH surgeons, RH surgeons reported more difficulty (46% vs 16%, p = 0.003) and less comfort teaching LH trainees (28% vs 4%, p = 0.002), and 10 (15%) reported that LH trainees have less technical ability. RH surgeons identified challenges translating technique to LH trainees and physical limitations of an environment optimized for right-handed mechanics. The disadvantage LH surgical trainees face is due to barriers in training rather than inherent lesser ability. Nonetheless, minimal modifications are made to overcome these barriers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Maia Anderson, Erica Carballo, David Hughes, Christopher Behrer, Rishindra M Reddy. Challenges training left-handed surgeons. American journal of surgery. 2017 Sep;214(3):554-557

Mesh Tags

PMID: 28108068

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