Coaching Orthopaedic Surgeons: Can Visiting Professors be a Valuable Surgical Coach?

Abstract

Much has been discussed about coaching on different fields and medical training has 
not been left aside. Atul Gawande’s article in The New Yorker back in 2002 was an eye opener 
for many regarding the fact that surgeons need and should be constantly coached.1
 Now-a-days, 
more than in the past surgeon’s performance is being scrutinized and attempts to measure surgical skills have been in the cross hairs of public health entities.
 
Little has been said about coaching in the orthopaedic field, and although orthopaedic 
surgeon’s clinical activities may include coaching on a daily basis we have to be aware of it and 
steps to improve and better characterize it should be undertaken by the academic as well as the 
non-academic orthopaedic surgeon. Just like every professional athlete uses a coach to carry 
and maintain them at the most proficient level possible within their discipline, surgeons should 
take this into consideration. Data supporting coaching in other areas is mainly based on expert’s 
recommendation but on the field of education several randomized trials have demonstrated the 
importance and beneficial effects of coaching.
2
These educational trials have demonstrated that the quality of a teacher has the biggest impact in how much students can learn and other variables such as class size or types of 
testing are not as influential in the ability to learn.1 In an educational trial authors gave verbal 
instructions to a group of teachers and found that only 10% of teachers used the new skill. After 
modeling, practice, and feedback were added, the rate of adoption of the new skill by the teachers increased to 19%. But after the addition of peer coaching an astounding 95% of teachers 
utilized the new skill.3