Rethinking “technical” competence: beyond binary classifications in surgical education and practice
Abstract
Abstract In this commentary we make a call to action to rethink “technical” competence. This commentary was invited in response to an article published by Cloonan et al. (2025) who report on patterns of feedback for surgical residents using a binary classification of data classified as “technical” and “non-technical”. While we welcome detailed analysis of skills, we argue that these categorisations oversimplify surgical practice and do not reflect the complex sets of skills required for safe surgical practice.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Surgical Simulation and Training
Innovations in Medical Education
Patient Safety and Medication Errors
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Global Surgical Education - Journal of the Association for Surgical Education
- Publisher
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Publication date
- 13 January 2026
- Language
- EN