Advancing excellence: a national peer-coaching program for advanced laparoscopic HPB techniques.

Background: Surgical coaching is valuable for disseminating knowledge, refining skills, and fostering continuous professional development for surgeons in practice. This work aims to implement a national coaching program for Canadian HPB surgeons, emphasizing advanced laparoscopic techniques, and to assess subsequent adoption. Secondary objectives include evaluating surgeon perceptions, barriers, and experiences.

Methods: Mid-to-late career HPB surgeons across Canada joined a peer surgical coaching program for advanced laparoscopic skills. The program included didactic sessions followed by practical coaching with case observation, simulation labs, and real-time coaching in the operating room. One lead surgeon from each center was invited to participate in the exit interview.

Results: Eight centers across four provinces completed the program, and one lead surgeon from each site was interviewed. Surgeons reported a 34.9 % increase in self-perceived comfort levels in laparoscopic HPB surgeries, with a 24.2 % and 56.7 % increase in laparoscopic liver and pancreas resections, respectively. Participants acknowledged challenges in implementing surgical coaching, citing barriers related to surgeon and societal factors. Overcoming these challenges required mutual respect, openness to learning, and building sustained change through team collaboration and long-term coach relationships.

Discussion: This work demonstrated the practicality of a nationwide coaching program and its capacity to effect substantial, long-term change in clinical practice.