We asked the experts: The evolving role of non-technical skills for surgery in low-and middle-income countries
| BACKGROUNDAs the global burden of surgically treatable conditions continues to grow, a disparity in the quality and quantity of surgical care available across the world persists. Data suggest that the poorest third of the world's population receive less than 4% of major operations performed, and that there is a higher rate of perioperative morbidity and mortality within low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared to high-income countries (HICs). 1-3 Some of the reasons cited for this include a lack of trained healthcare professionals, acceptable resources, and replenished consumables; the cost associated with treatment; follow-up and complications; and shortcomings in national policies, protocols, and procedures.Through training programs and capacity-building collaborations, surgical services are being developed to overcome these challenges. However, a rise in surgical capacity brings the concurrent risk of a rise in associated adverse events. To mitigate against this, it is critical that novel and evidence-based strategies are incorporated into surgical education, training, and quality improvement initiatives. Combining human factors with technical and non-technical skills training is one such promising paradigm shift.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.