Can you train surgeons like dolphins?
Is Teaching Simple Surgical Skills Using an Operant Learning Program More Effective Than Teaching by Demonstration?
Trainee surgeons learned to tie knots more precisely with a dolphin-training clicker than by just watching.
Ig Nobel 2019
Karen Pryor is famous for training dolphins and dogs with a little clicker that marks the exact moment something is done right. Here, she teamed up with a surgeon to teach junior doctors two skills: tying a tricky surgical knot and drilling a precise hole.
All 12 clicker-trained learners tied the knot perfectly, compared with only 4 of 12 taught by demonstration. Good surgeon. Click. Treat optional.
What works for puppies works for doctors-in-training.