Surgeons show greater dexterity in children’s buzz wire game than other hospital staff

Surgeons are quicker and more successful at completing a buzz wire game compared with other hospital staff, finds a study in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.

However, surgeons are also more likely to swear during the task, while nurses and non-clinical staff show the highest rates of audible noises of frustration.

The researchers say their study highlights the diverse skill sets across hospital staff roles, and they suggest surgical swear jars should be considered for future fundraising events.

Within a hospital, manual dexterity has a crucial, yet varied, role – from surgeons needing fine motor precision while operating to administrative staff rapidly typing without error. But do people wielding scalpels truly possess greater dexterity than people in other hospital staff roles, and do some maintain better composure under pressure?

To find out, researchers set out to compare the manual dexterity and composure under pressure of 254 staff at one NHS hospital trust (60 physicians, 64 surgeons, 69 nurses, and 61 non-clinical staff) using a buzz wire game over a three-week period in 2024.

Participants were instructed to guide a looped metal wand from one end of a twisted wire path to the other without touching the wire, and were timed. If the loop touched the wire at any point, a buzzer sounded, and the participant was required to return to the start. Instructions were standardised and no practice attempts were permitted.

Audible expressions of frustration, such as sighs, groans and mutters, or swearing (defined as any word not suitable for broadcast before 9pm on UK television according to a publicly available list of offensive language published by Ofcom) were recorded.

A total of 84% of surgeons completed the game within five minutes compared with 57% of physicians, 54% of nurses and 51% of non-clinical staff.

Surgeons were also quicker to successfully complete the game regardless of age and gender, with an average time of 89 seconds compared with 120 seconds for physicians, 135 seconds for nurses and 161 seconds for non-clinical staff.

However, surgeons also exhibited the highest rate of swearing during the game (50%), followed by nurses (30%), physicians (25%), and non-clinical staff (23%) (P=0.004). Non-clinical staff showed the highest use of frustration noises (75%), followed by nurses (68%), surgeons (58%), and physicians (52%).

The authors stress that these are observational findings and point out that people with previous experience or who consider themselves to be more dexterous may have been more likely to take part. Other unmeasured factors, such as prevailing stress, fatigue, and caffeine consumption might also have affected performance.

Nevertheless, they suggest that either a training effect or innate ability might explain the better performance of surgeons, and say “future training might benefit from incorporating family games to enhance both dexterity and stress management across all specialties.”

“Implementation of a surgical swear jar initiative should be considered for future fundraising events,” they add.