Being a bad "operater" has less to do with how well your hands move and more to do with how well your brain can synthesis the anatomy in front of you in my opinion. If you have shaky hands but can easily identify structures, enter the correct planes and have logical step-wise approach to the procedure with no wasted movements you are going to be amazing compared to the person whose hands are completely still but fumbles around looking for structures.
I agree, and wasn't asking about shaky hands vs not. I was asking about sucking in the OR, as defined by
@toxic-megacolon in is post above "Take way too long. Lose way too much blood. Are too heavy handed with the tissues, make too many inefficient moves." Other things that seem important to me based on my limited experience in the OR and posts/books I've read include finding the right bloodless planes of dissection, economy of movement, mental organization of the case as a whole. Sid Schwab talks about it in his book as well:
"Being a great surgeon is not about having fast hands or making flashy moves. It’s about knowing exactly what you want to accomplish, and doing it without wasted motion. Knowing the right thing to do, and doing it right the first time (rarely can a second attempt be executed without exacting a toll on the patient). Anticipating, adjusting. Understanding and being able to find the precise layers and planes between tissues and working within them. Many surgeons don’t. I had a teacher in high school, the baseball coach, who liked to say that the best outfielder is the one always making an easy catch. He knows the game situation, watches the catcher set up, sees the signs, figures where he needs to be. You can’t avoid all circus catches, but they ought to be rare. Surgery is the same. You admire the surgeon who stops the bleeding, gets out of a tight spot, stays at the bedside in the ICU. I do too. More, I admire the one who knows how to avoid all that stuff in the first place. A great surgeon makes it look easy"
and
" Being a good surgeon has much less to do with flash and technical brilliance, than it does with being able to think ahead, be efficient, and know the shortest line between points A and B; in other words, having a certain type of decision-making capability. Much of it can be taught, I guess. But a critical portion is about how one’s mind works. Like music. Some have it, some don’t. Not everyone who lacks it chooses another profession"
So my question is about those skills, not about beautifully moving tremorless hands or whatever else the typical SDN premed is asking about regarding surgery ("should I take up knitting and sculpting to prepare to be a surgeon??!? I draw really well will I be a good surgeon??"). Obviously there is going to be a spectrum and its not black or white, but would you say a good portion of residents lack the skills to be a great surgeon in the OR? How much of that is teachable? Does it even matter? What do you think makes someone a great technician? When you see another surgeon operate, what impresses you or makes you cringe?
