Competency

Competency refers to the ability to do something successfully or efficiently. It includes a combination of knowledge, skills, and behaviors that are necessary to perform a task or role effectively.

Types of Competencies: Technical Competency – specific knowledge or skills related to a job (e.g., programming, operating medical equipment).

Behavioral (or Soft) Competency – traits or interpersonal skills (e.g., communication, teamwork, adaptability).

Core Competency – fundamental qualities that are essential across roles in an organization or profession (e.g., integrity, problem-solving).

Leadership Competency – skills needed to lead others (e.g., strategic thinking, decision-making, conflict resolution).

Example: A nurse’s competencies may include clinical knowledge, patient communication, time management, and ethical decision-making.

In surgical education, technical competency is one of the key factors of efficacy in the curriculum, and it is an independent factor that is directly associated with postoperative patient outcomes ¹⁾ ²⁾

By gathering large amounts of data from surgical simulation training, machine learning, and deep learning algorithms can be used to design intelligent tutoring systems to deliver a curriculum enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI) ³⁾ ⁴⁾ ⁵⁾.

An intelligent tutoring system is a pedagogical tool powered by an AI model that can provide learners with tailored performance assessment and feedback

Competency-based education in neurosurgery

Peripheral Nerve Surgery Competency

Spine surgery competency

¹⁾

Stulberg JJ, Huang R, Kreutzer L, et al.. Association between surgeon technical skills and patient outcomes. JAMA Surg. 2020;155(10):960-968. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2020.3007

²⁾

Birkmeyer JD, Finks JF, O’Reilly A, et al.; Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative . Surgical skill and complication rates after bariatric surgery. N Engl J Med. 2013;369(15):1434-1442. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa1300625

³⁾

Winkler-Schwartz A, Yilmaz R, Mirchi N, et al.. Machine learning identification of surgical and operative factors associated with surgical expertise in virtual reality simulation. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(8):e198363. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.8363

⁴⁾

Mirchi N, Bissonnette V, Yilmaz R, Ledwos N, Winkler-Schwartz A, Del Maestro RF. The virtual operative assistant: an explainable artificial intelligence tool for simulation-based training in surgery and medicine. PLoS One. 2020;15(2):e0229596. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229596

⁵⁾

Yilmaz R, Winkler-Schwartz A, Mirchi N, et al.. Continuous monitoring of surgical bimanual expertise using deep neural networks in virtual reality simulation. NPJ Digit Med. 2022;5(1):54. doi: 10.1038/s41746-022-00596-8