The Academy for Surgical Coaching and SAGES Pilot First-of-its-Kind Coaching Program for Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons as They Transition to Practice

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Academy for Surgical Coaching, a surgical education organization that empowers surgeons to improve their performance through coaching, and supported by analytics capabilities from Intuitive Surgical, today announced that the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), the largest professional society for GI surgeons, will partner with The Academy to pilot the SAGES Surgical Coaching Program. The SAGES Surgical Coaching Program will support SAGES members as they transition from training to practice through collaboration with Academy-trained Surgical Coaches to help new-to-practice surgeons transition into the role of practicing surgeon.

Today's surgeons face a challenging transition from training to independent practice. By the end of their training, surgeons have nearly completed medical education, received continuous feedback from mentors and other supports, and are preparing to independently practice surgery. Following graduation, new-to-practice surgeons need to connect with new supports at their employer, a frequent challenge for new surgeons. Changes in resources and feedback make the transition to independent practice especially challenging, creating an ideal time for coaches to support surgeons through the transition to independent practice.

"Being a surgical coach is a rewarding way that I can give back to the surgical community and welcome my new colleagues to the practice of surgery," said Jacob Greenberg, MD, a Surgical Coach, gastrointestinal surgeon at Duke University, and the lead surgeon for the SAGES Surgical Coaching Program. "Surgical coaching is a great way to take on big career transitions by keeping focused and accountable to your own goals and career path."

Surgical coaching is a process where a surgeon identifies clear goals for changing surgical practice, takes steps to achieve those goals, works to overcome barriers and reflects on successes and failures. A Surgical Coach guides goal-driven conversations, holds the surgeon accountable to making changes, and asks thoughtful questions to uncover the hidden "why" underlying behavior. The process of Surgical Coaching has been investigated in numerous peer-reviewed clinical studies and has been shown to help surgeons make lasting changes to their practice and to become safer and more effective surgeons. In the SAGES Surgical Coaching Program, SAGES members who are within 18 months of finishing their training are eligible to partner with one of thirty Surgical Coaches with a specialty in gastrointestinal surgery. Surgeons and coaches meet via an integrated technology platform that allows them to review videos of operating room performance and access advanced video analytics.

More information about the program and a list of trained Surgical Coaches is available at https://surgicalcoaching.org/sages/]

The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) is a leading surgical society representing a global community of more than 7,000 surgeons bringing minimal access surgery and emerging techniques to patients worldwide. SAGES mission is to innovate, educate and collaborate to improve patient care with a vision of reimagining surgical care for a healthier world. For more information, go to https://www.sages.org.  

World-class athletes, musicians and teachers work with coaches to go from being great to being world-class. The Academy for Surgical Coaching is a nonprofit organization to bring coaching to surgeons. The Surgical Coaching program was developed through academic research in collaboration with major academic medical centers and has been proven in randomized clinical trials to change the way surgeons do surgery. The Academy for Surgical Coaching trains surgeons to become Surgical Coaches, pairs surgeons with Surgical Coaches, and manages coaching programs. Coaching surgeons involves slowing down and developing new ways of thinking about surgery through goal setting, action-planning and follow up. The Academy for Surgical Coaching has trained over 250 Surgical Coaches and conducted over 400 hours of surgical coaching. For more information visit https://surgicalcoaching.org/

SAGES Media Contact
Julie Miller
julie@sages.org
(310 437-0555, ext. 179

The Academy for Surgical Coaching Media Contact
Audrey George
Academy for Surgical Coaching
audrey@audrey-george.com
(708) 508-5030

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SOURCE The Academy for Surgical Coaching