It is fair to say that most people who are facing surgery of any kind are likely anxious about going under and not waking up. Most who are experiencing this anxiety are probably not very receptive to having a trainee surgeon or resident performing the surgery out of fear that a mistake will be committed that could possible end in death.

A study recently released indicates that surgical errors do not in fact increase when a resident is involved in the procedure. According to the study, surgical errors occurred at the same rate when residents were involved as when they were not-less than 6 percent of the time. The study that reached this conclusion was conducted by researchers who analyzed data on more than 60,000 surgeries that were performed over the course of a two year period, beginning in 2005.

One reason for this could be that generally residents are found at large hospitals with experienced surgeons on staff. Since numerous other studies have indicated that the experience level of the surgeon has a great bearing on how a patient fares in a surgery, their presence could have a great bearing on the outcome of surgeries involving residents or surgical trainees.

No one wants to be injured while in the treatment of a health care provider. Nonetheless, injuries are suffered on a regular basis throughout the Pittsburgh area. Medical malpractice lawsuits for things such as surgical errors are one way to deal with the problem. When successful, financial damages will be awarded to the injured party for the negligent, injury producing behavior.

Source: Reuters, "Having a trainee surgeon in operations is safe: study," Amy Norton, Aug. 15, 2012