Excellence and safety in surgery require excellent and safe tutoring

The surgical education in Italy has always been a very important issue. The aim of this article is to bring together the feedback of the definitions of the various components of the learning scheme and to evaluate the importance of the legal point. In March 2016 we performed a literature review. We have also examinated the internet pages of the Italian Department of Education, Health and Medical Order. In Italy the tutor had an unclear role from a legal point of view. He is the person who must be able to perform a specific procedure with expert technical and who must know how to stop the student if this is about to perform a dangerous maneuver. In Italy the ability to work for the trainee is limited in all reality, it depends on several factors including the increase of numbers of medical-legal disputes, the timing, the commitment it requires mentoring and a lack of mentors.

In surgery, the problem is greater because of the increasingly of medico-legal implications that we are after surgical procedure. It would be necessary to define a role of the tutor in a regular protocol and a proper assessment of his performance.