How, when, and from whom neck dissection operative technique is learned: An international survey on neck dissection education among head and neck oncologic surgeons.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of evidence on how neck dissection (ND) technique is best learned.

METHODS: Online survey of the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS).

RESULTS: 283 of the 1010 (28%) AHNS surgeon members completed the survey. Most respondents had 3-4 mentors [n=157 (55.5%)] that they felt were most influential their ND technique. 134 (47.3% of surgeons who completed a fellowship) felt that fellowship training had the most impact on their ND technique. Most respondents ranked the most effective methods of learning ND operative technique in the following order: 1) physically performing the operation yourself (70.1%), 2) observing the attending perform maneuvers independent of verbal teaching (37.7%) and 3) verbal teaching by an attending in the operating room independent of actual maneuvers (36.3%).

CONCLUSION: When learning an ND, the most benefit comes from empirical learning in the context a small group of surgeon mentors.