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Surgical Non-Technical Skills Linked to Better Outcomes

Non-technical skills like leadership and communication directly impact surgical outcomes and patient safety.

  • Of 21 studies reviewed, 57% showed significant clinical improvements, benefiting over 247,000 procedures.
  • Nine of 11 observational studies found notable enhancements in outcomes, compared to just three of ten interventional studies.

Improving these skills should be a priority for surgical teams to enhance care quality.

  • No study reported worsened outcomes from improving non-technical skills.

Systematic Review by Norton J, Janda AM (…) Yule S et 17 al. in Br J Surg

© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of BJS Foundation Ltd. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.

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