Surgical Coaching: Patient Perspectives Regarding Surgeon Coaches in the Operating Room

BACKGROUND: Surgical coaching programs have been introduced as platforms for ongoing professional devel-opment amongst independently practicing surgeons. While there is a plethora of evidence regarding the effec-tiveness of surgical coaching for practicing staff sur-geons, patients' opinions regarding surgical coaching are largely unknown. OBJECTIVES: To determine patients' baseline attitudes and opinions about the hypothetical situation of their treating surgeon having a surgical coach present during their upcoming operation, and to determine patients' baseline knowledge and prior exposure to surgical coaching. DESIGN AND SETTING: This study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Vancouver, Canada. Patients on the surgical waitlist of 2 independently practicing Otolaryng-ologists within the subspeciality of Neurotology were invited to participate in the study. Participants engaged in a semi-structured interview to discuss their opinions and knowledge of physician coaches and to learn about surgical coaching. The interview was conducted based on a pre-set script. RESULTS: Of the 100 patients approached, 70 consented to participate. Forty-three (61%) participants identified as female, and the mean age was 56 +/- 15 years. Initially, 84% of participants (n = 59) consented to the hypotheti-cal presence of a surgical coach. Post-discussion, this number increased to 95.7% (n = 67, p = 0.04). Prior par-ticipant exposure to coaching related to employment, education, athletics, or music was high (90%, n = 63). Younger participants between 25 and 45 years of age were more amenable to the presence of a surgical coach compared to participants >66 years of age (p = 0.01). After the interview, 55 (79%) participants were inter-ested in learning more about surgical coaching. CONCLUSION: Many patients were unaware of the rationale and importance of surgical coaching programs for practicing staff surgeons. Most patients, especially younger patients, were amenable to the presence of a surgical coach during their surgery, and this number increased in all age categories with patient education about surgical coaching. (J Surg Ed 80:270-275.(c) 2022 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)