High-risk training: the courage to teach

Abstract

LetterTo submit a letter in response to a JRSM article, please visit http://jrsm.sagepub.com to find the article concerned, then click on the 'Submit a comment' link found in the Reader Responses section. Comments will automatically be submitted for consideration to be published in print. High-risk training: the courage to teachWe read with interest John Pepper and Aman Coonar's article that outlined the effect that publically available statistics based upon 30-day mortality is having on surgical practice.

Quality and Innovation in Cardiothoracic Surgery: Colliding Imperatives?

“…In addition, and interestingly, their editorial prompted a courageous letter from surgical trainees at Oxford paraphrasing Pepper, titled, "High Risk Training: The Courage to Teach" [16]. Again, the unintended consequence is that attending surgeons, concerned with their statistics, may be disincentivized to allow trainees to be primary operators with tragic training consequences.…”