Surgical Education: Theorising an Emerging Domain

This book delineates surgical education as a new and emerging field of academic enquiry. Surgical (as opposed to medical) education is emerging as a distinct field with its own identity. Surgeons have started to professionalise their educational role, and draw professional, non-surgeon educators into the field.

Surgery is a near unique environment of learning and practice. The defining characteristic of ‘surgical’ specialties is the performance of invasive procedures, (alongside the myriad of diagnostic and other elements which are shared with other clinicians). This craft component is central to the surgeon’s role, as is teamworking. Yet the unique characteristics of this field have been little addressed from an educational perspective, nor have its possibilities as a new research domain been mapped. This book thus seeks to explore surgical education from a number of dimensions, and draw attention to theorising it and establishing its epistemological foundations.At the same time it points to the essential links between theory and practice.

Surgical education is important and the initiative timely; the two main co-authors use their combined perspectives and expertise to map the domain’s co-ordinates. Complementing this strong sense of direction are invited chapters from carefully selected contributors, each an outstanding expert in his or her field. This book is aimed at surgeons, other clinicians, non-clinicians, educators, and others interested in this new domain.