Gallagher Anthony G., O’Sullivan Gerald C. Fundamentals of Surgical Simulation Principles and Practices

Springer, 2012. — 384 p.In this book, Prof. Anthony Gallagher and Prof. Gerald O’Sullivan have combined and integrated their unique perspectives on surgical training to produce a
scholarly volume on training, learning, and practice of modern surgery. Prof. Gallagher is an experimental psychologist of international renown and a highly cited researcher in the field of human factors, objective assessment, and simulation. Prof. O’Sullivan is internationally renowned for his work as a practicing surgeon, cancer researcher, and professional leader within Irish, European, and World surgery. Using their expertise to analyze why modern image guided surgery is difficult to learn and practice, they have concluded that the difficulties faced are not just related to human factors, but arise from fundamental problems associated with a century old way of training in surgery. Gallagher and O’Sullivan propose the current Halstedian apprenticeship approach to training surgeons should be supplanted with a systematic, evidence-based, quality-assured approach based on simulation and not on clinical exposure and experience alone.