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DECEMBER 2, 2024

How Important Is Psychology for Surgical Performance?

An Initial Survey of What Surgical Residents Think

By Michael J. Asken, PhD, Kelly Fening, DO, and William Childers, DO

An emerging trend in surgery, which has been followed and reported by General Surgery News, is that of interest in how psychological performance skills might enhance surgical practice.1-5 The value of such skills in other high-stress and elite professions is, no doubt, a basis for the calls to explore their applicability to surgery.6

Another foundation is the perception of their value. Practicing surgeons report that