ReviewInternational journal of surgery (London, England)2025
Surgery and technical skill decay.
Review in International journal of surgery (London, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Comparison of artificial intelligence assisted training and traditional learning paths in clinical simulation skills training: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Challenges faced and countermeasures implemented by county-level hospitals in China.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Article
- Deliberate practice: The cornerstone of microsurgical therapy.Clinical advances in periodontics · 2026Article
- Changes in Surgical Admissions and Outcomes During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploration of the Australian and New Zealand Audit of Surgical Mortality (ANZASM).ANZ journal of surgeryArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAn increasing number of surgical trainees are taking time out of clinical training for research, parental leave or other interests. A comprehensive review was carried out to evaluate the current evidence on whether and how such time results in surgical skill decay.
methodsA PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library search was performed using the phrase: ("skills decay" OR "skills fade") AND "surgery." All relevant literature was analyzed and summarized.
resultsA total of 41 relevant articles were identified. The skills that are most adversely affected by time out of training are technical operative skills and, within those, speed and accuracy in operations. Factors that affect skill decay include the complexity of the task itself, the degree of overlearning (i.e., the skill of the surgeon prior to time out of training) and the retention interval (i.e., the length of time for which the trainee is out of training and whether or not spaced practice is carried out). The articles suggest that simulation may be of assistance in mitigating skill decay; however, this has yet to be fully investigated.
conclusionsAs an increasing number of surgical trainees are taking time away from clinical training for academic research, higher degrees, parental leave, or other interests, further research is required to investigate how to mitigate the resulting surgical skill decay, potentially through the use of simulation.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.