A window into the belly: lessons from a pioneering surgeon

that interfere with surgical training of the trainee. Such a process may actually unearth certain aspects of the training programme that may either aid the trainee or deter his / her progress. The advantage of Process excellence is that it allows an objective comparison following the intervention to the outcomes before the change. This could thus result in further changes in the training system that could lead to further improvements. Another possible application is in the imparting of training in complex surgical procedures by breaking up the procedures into step-wise processes that would help identify key steps. Special training could then be imparted in these key steps. Six Sigma can also be used to objectively quantify the competence and efficiency of procedures, clinicians and trainees. The surgical fraternity needs to explore and adopt suitable ‘tools’ from other non-medical disciplines and apply them in order to create best practice standards in clinical practice and surgical training. This would go a long way in improving standards across the board and also make a major difference in surgical training, ongoing training of practicing surgeons, as well as, up-gradation of the ‘skill sets’.