Training the Plastic Surgeon of Tomorrow: What Should Change?

Abstract

Plastic surgery as an entity has evolved dramatically over time. To remain viable, this specialty relies on innovative techniques, new anatomical understandings, and the ability to challenge conventional wisdom. Every generational period has seen the emergence of new technological advances in the field— technological advances from traditional surgical approaches to microsurgical reconstructive procedures; from craniofacial reconstructive procedures to perforator flaps and vascularized composite allotransplantations; from regenerative medicine to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotic surgery, three-dimensional printing, indocyanine green angiography, virtual planning, and precision medicine.

The resident will need to understand how to build prompts, check their findings against primary literature, and recognize hallucinated references within referenced literature. The resident needs to ensure that they maintain patient confidentiality and avoid manipulating images inappropriately.

The plastic surgeon of the future will not just be defined by new flaps, machines, or algorithms.He/She will be defined by the type of surgeon we train. Tomorrow's plastic surgeons will have to be technically proficient, capable microsurgeons in their work with scientific curiosity, digital literacy, ethical foundations, emotional maturity, and adaptability. The most important innovation in plastic surgery will not be a robot, an algorithm, or a new flap. It will be the ‘surgeon’, Mentors prepare to use them.