Surgical errors happen, but are learners trained to recover from them? A survey of North American surgical residents and fellows.

This survey of surgical residents explored their experiences and perceptions of error recovery training (i.e., how to recognize and manage a technical error in order to ensure patient safety). Nearly all respondents thought error recovery was a key competency, yet only one-third felt they were adequately trained to recover from major events. Error recovery should be incorporated into formal surgical curriculum to support trainees and increase surgical safety.