5 questions for Margarita Berg

How did you come to do the study?

The study is one of the results of the 2020 VR grant of SEK 6 million received by the Surgicon Group on the topic “Surgical Training”. Surgicon is an international network of leading surgeons from various specialties.

What did you come up with?

That there is great potential for improvement and that, with simple means, better support can be provided for beginners in surgical careers.

Is there anything in the answers that surprised you?

Yes, ST doctors have a designated supervisor but there are no regular meetings with the supervisor, and many questions were answered in the negative.

Your top suggestion for how to improve surgical training?

Every patient has the right to undergo surgery by a specialized surgeon, regardless of his country, culture, religion, or social and economic status. It relates to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. We believe that surgery should be quality assured as well as medications and other treatment methods. This can only be done through scientific research. The most important thing, we believe, is 1) to create standardized structures for how surgical training is conducted, and 2) to have step-by-step practical examinations in some form. Within each discipline, you can select which procedures to learn in steps 1, 2, 3, etc., of the ladder. It should be possible to coordinate this within Sweden, but also internationally. This would create a kind of internationally valid “driving licence” for surgeons. But the methodology must be evaluated scientifically.

How did you choose your major?

I was going to be a psychiatrist, but I enjoy carpentry and decided to do so while interning in orthopedics during medical school.