Surgical students battle with dexterity, thanks to screens

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Roger Kneebone, a professor of surgical education at Imperial College, London told the BBC that he has seen a decline in the manual dexterity of students over the past decade - which he says is a problem for surgeons, who need craftsmanship as well as academic knowledge.

“It is a concern of mine and my scientific colleagues that whereas in the past you could make the assumption that students would leave school able to do certain practical things - cutting things out, making things - that is no longer the case."

An increase in technology which takes away the experience of handling materials and developing skills, he says. "A lot of things are reduced to swiping on a two-dimensional flat screen."

“It is important and an increasingly urgent issue”. Students are becoming “less competent and less confident” in using their hands, resulting in young professionals who “have very high exam grades but lack tactile general knowledge”.