Surgical Video Review: A Gold Mine for New Residents and Fellows

Every Monday sports teams across the country are huddled around screens, dissecting key moments or critical plays from the weekend's game. Just as athletes have long recognized the transformative power of replay analysis, the surgical community is increasingly realizing the profound potential of video review to enhance skill and performance. In fact, performance improvement science from elite athletics underscores the crucial role of video review in achieving superior technical outcomes in surgical skill acquisition.¹ 

The Current State of Surgical Training: Ready for Evolution 

In surgical training programs across the United States, the traditional training model emphasizes the gradual acquisition of autonomy in the operating room, complemented by periodic performance assessments over several years. However, anonymous assessments often arrive too late in the learning process to drive meaningful improvements, and frequently offer limited actionable feedback for trainees.   

Emerging technologies like the Society for Improving Medical Professional Learning’s (SIMPL) competency-based training² presents an exciting opportunity for tracking progress along the surgeon’s learning curve, but currently lacks integration with surgical video review as a tool for objective technical skills assessment.  

Enter the Surgical Video Revolution 

Modern technology is changing this landscape. Advanced platforms like the OR Black Box®³ now offer every clinician the ability to build and access their own surgical video library.⁴ Each procedure is automatically captured, de-identified, and securely stored, creating a powerful resource for trainees to:

• Quickly locate and review specific case files to prepare for upcoming procedures 

• Conduct formative and summative evaluations 

• Monitor progression on residency program/fellowship program level 

• Provide feedback, coaching, deliberate practice, etc. 

• Create presentation materials for grand rounds, M&Ms, etc. 

  
  

  

A New Era of Surgical Excellence 

These digital video repositories have become powerful tools that are revolutionizing surgical education, technique refinement, and patient outcomes. The value of video-based coaching⁵ is well-documented in the surgical literature, demonstrating enhanced skill retention and deeper surgical understanding. They also empower new residents and fellows with higher levels of autonomy in the operating room by fostering shared surgical awareness between trainees and attendings.  

Personal surgical video libraries represent more than just a technological advance—they're ushering in a new era of surgical education. These tools are helping shape the next generation of surgical excellence, enabling high quality feedback and creating opportunities for detailed analysis and reflection. Ongoing efforts to automate the capture of key events using surgical video⁶ hold tremendous potential for advancing education and quality improvement.  

For residents, fellows, and practicing surgeons alike, the message is clear: the future of surgical education and improvement lies in embracing the power of video review. Just as no professional athlete would dream of competing without studying game footage, no modern surgeon should miss the opportunity to learn from their own surgical library. 

Recommended Reading 

1. Jopling JK, Visser BC. Mastering the thousand tiny details: routine use of video to optimize performance in sport and in surgery. ANZ Journal of Surgery. 2021;91(10):1981–6.   

2. Zwischenberger JB, Hatchett SP, Rahman NA, Chadha P, Sebok-Syer SS, George BC. Implementing Workplace-Based Assessments at Scale: The SIMPL Approach. Ann Surg Open. 2023 Nov 27;4(4):e353.  

3. OR Black Box - SST. (2024). Surgicalsafety.com. https://www.surgicalsafety.com/platform/or-black-box 

4. Data Sheet - Explorer. (2024). Surgicalsafety.com. https://www.surgicalsafety.com/data-sheets/explorer-module 

5. Daniel R, McKechnie T, Kruse CC, Levin M, Lee Y, Doumouras AG, et al. Video-based coaching for surgical residents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Surg Endosc. 2023 Feb 1;37(2):1429–39.

6. Khalid S, Goldenberg M, Grantcharov T, Taati B, Rudzicz F. Evaluation of Deep Learning Models for Identifying Surgical Actions and Measuring Performance. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Mar 2;3(3):e201664.