Strengthening adaptive expertise in surgical education: A comprehensive and strategic approach

Abstract

Introduction. The comprehensive training of residents exceeds theoretical knowledge and operative technique. Faced with the complexity of modern surgery, its uncertainty and dynamism, it is necessary to redefine the understanding of surgical education and promote adaptive capabilities in future surgeons for the effective management of the environment. These aspects refer to adaptive expertise. Methods. The present narrative review proposes a definition of surgical education with an emphasis on adaptive expertise, and an approach for its adoption in practice. Results. Based on the available literature, surgical education represents a dynamic process that is situated at the intersection of the complexity of surgical culture, learning in the workplace, and quality in health care, aimed at training of cognitive, manual, and adaptive capacities in the future surgeon, which allow them to provide high-value care in a collective work system, while strengthening their professional identity. Resident’s adaptive expertise is a fundamental capacity to maximize his or her performance in the face of these characteristics of surgical education. In the available literature there are six strategies to strengthen this capacity. Conclusion. Adaptive expertise is an expected and necessary capacity in the surgical resident to deal with the complexity of surgical education. There are practical strategies that can help strengthen it, which must be evaluated in new studies. © 2024, Asociacion Colombiana de Cirugia. All rights reserved.