Advances in Teaching and Assessing Nontechnical Skills

The importance of surgeons' nontechnical skills is gaining widespread recognition as a critical element of high-quality and safe surgical care. This article reviews the knowledge base on training and assessing surgeons, and operating room (OR) teams, in nontechnical aspects of their performance. Nontechnical skills are defined in the context of the OR and key assessment instruments that have been developed to capture these skills are reviewed. Key developments that have taken place in the past decade on formal skills training are discussed, and recommendations to further advance nontechnical skills and team-based training and assessment in surgery are presented.