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Professor Steven Yule Director of Non-Technical Skills

The commemoration of the NOTSS 20th anniversary Faculty meeting and the preview of the non-technical skills for surgeons (NOTSS) course for 2024 at the RCSEd marked a pivotal event for patient safety and surgical education in November last year. Alongside this, the College held a Festschrift for Professor Rhona Flin, celebrating her remarkable contribution to organisational psychology, human factors and safety research spanning multiple industries.

This symposium paid homage to Flin’s seminal work. Her pioneering research from the 1980s to the present day have shaped the understanding and implementation of non-technical skills across industries as diverse as aviation, offshore oil and gas, and surgery. She was instrumental in the development of NOTSS, which has been an important aspect of the College’s contribution to global surgical education.

The Festschrift brought together over 50 past students, researchers and colleagues to honour her work, culminating in a keynote address by Professor George Yougson CBE and a celebration dinner in the Fellows’ Library.

Development day 

Over 100 NOTSS Faculty gathered from around the world for the annual Faculty development day, bringing together Faculty, trainers, surgical educators, clinicians and researchers with fellow surgeons to hear developments from the NOTSS committee.

A highlight was hearing from Professor Ken Walker and CL Yeap about international NOTSS courses that span all continents, and from Barnabas Alayande and Egide Abahuje about NOTSS projects in Malawi, Rwanda and Nigeria.  

The event candidly addressed the challenges encountered in integrating non-technical skills into surgical education, acknowledging the complexity of identifying and measuring these skills. The global impact of RCSEd NOTSS Masterclasses reaching multiple continents is a testament to the influence of surgical science on a global scale.

The commitment to delivering culturally sensitive training grounded in behavioural science is setting standards for the future of surgical team behaviour. To commemorate the first NOTSS studies, which date back to April 2003, a 20th birthday cake was presented at a celebration lunch.

Adding a layer of anticipation to the Faculty development day, Professor Steven Yule and Simon Paterson-Brown, along with the NOTSS committee, provided an exclusive preview of the new NOTSS Masterclass set to launch in 2024, which is redesigned to reflect advances in research and behavioural science applied to surgery, including:

• New learning outcomes aligned with the GMC new curriculum.

• New video scenarios for participants to view and discuss contemporary surgical challenges.

• A toolbox of techniques and tips surgeons at all stages can deploy to enhance situation awareness, decision-making, teamwork, communication and leadership in the operating theatre.

• A new section ‘Managing your cognitive load’ with the latest science on digital and subjective measures of cognitive load, including an understanding of the human memory system, how to handle internal and environmental stressors that shape surgical behaviour, and evaluating tools that can protect cognitive load and enhance operative performance.

Many aspects of the NOTSS course, which has grown popular with Faculty and learners around the world, have been retained.

Shaping the future

With its comprehensive framework and objectives aimed at enhancing communication, promoting effective teamwork and developing situation awareness among surgeons, the new NOTSS Masterclass holds great promise in shaping the future of surgical science.

The commemoration event and NOTSS 20th anniversary at the RCSEd is a landmark moment in the landscape of surgical education. As the field evolves, the anticipation and commitment to prioritising non-technical skills underscore a collective determination to ensure the delivery of safe, effective and patient-centred surgical care.

Professor Steven Yule
Director of Non-Technical Skills