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Editorial| Volume 58, ISSUE 2, P125-128, February 2020

Phronesis and virtue ethics: the future of surgical training?

Published:January 02, 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjoms.2019.12.002
      Historically, surgical knowledge has progressed by trial and error, and the forefathers of plastic and maxillofacial surgery such as Harold Gillies and Archibald McIndoe learnt much from their mistakes.
      • Macnamara A.F.
      • Metcalfe N.H.
      Sir Archibald Hector McIndoe (1900-1960) and the Guinea Pig Club: the development of reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation in the Second World War (1939-1945).
      Today, the publication of surgeons’ outcomes and the culture of litigation can result in surgeons being more protective and defensive in their practice, and this could have a knock-on effect on the experiential learning of surgical trainees. Medicine has become highly regulated, and rightly, more focused on safety. Surgeons are learning increasingly from the aviation industry about ways to minimise human error as part of their daily practice.
      • Brennan P.A.
      • Mitchell D.A.
      • Holmes S.
      • et al.
      Good people who try their best can have problems: recognition of human factors and how to minimise error.
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