We appreciate the interest that Dr. Ruiz Marín et al. have demonstrated regarding our recent publication in Cirugía Española.1 One of our objectives, as authors of this article, was to promote the discussion of non-technical skills and human factors in the Spanish-speaking surgical community.
We agree that there is a pending challenge to update the skills of surgical teams who have already been trained and are practicing surgery. We are glad that initiatives like the Cirugía Segura (“Safe Surgery”) program already exist in Spain and have successfully involved government organizations in this task.2 We believe that the participation of both the Ministry of Health and scientific societies is fundamental, in the same way that the Royal Colleges of Surgeons have been successful in the United Kingdom and Australia. Hopefully, initiatives like these will be replicated in Latin American countries.
We also concur that the training of medical students in these subjects is a different challenge that requires the involvement of others, such as medical schools and their regulatory entities. Universities are the ideal setting for interdisciplinary work in order to develop solutions that help provide safer surgical practices and promote research projects on this subject in our region.
Please cite this article as: Berner JE, Ewertz E. Respuesta a «Habilidades no técnicas en cirugía: una asignatura pendiente». Cir Esp. 2019;97:421.
