Variant Anatomy Literacy as a Patient-Safety Competency in Surgical Training: A Title-Informed Conceptual Review and Competency Framework

Sanchis-Gimeno, Juan A.; Zuld, Andreea-Bianca; Orellana-Donoso, Mathias; Valenzuela-Fuenzalida, Juan José; Granite, Guinevere

Variant Anatomy Literacy as a Patient-Safety Competency in Surgical Training: A Title-Informed Conceptual Review and Competency Framework

dc.contributor.author	Sanchis-Gimeno, Juan A.
dc.contributor.author	Zuld, Andreea-Bianca
dc.contributor.author	Orellana-Donoso, Mathias
dc.contributor.author	Valenzuela-Fuenzalida, Juan José
dc.contributor.author	Granite, Guinevere
dc.coverage.spatial	Estados Unidos
dc.date.accessioned	2026-09-28T15:41:49Z
dc.date.available	2026-09-28T15:41:49Z
dc.date.issued	2026-06-25
dc.description.abstract	Surgical safety depends on recognition of patient-specific anatomy when encountered structures depart from population norms. Knowledge of anatomical variations is often treated as supplemental rather than as a safety-relevant necessity. This article aims to translate a title-informed map of literature on anatomical variation, surgical education, and patient safety into a practical competency framework for surgical training. A targeted, title-informed conceptual review was conducted in March 2026. PubMed was searched using anatomical-variation terms combined with surgery, education, patient safety, curriculum, assessment, simulation, reporting, and competency terms. PubMed Central, publisher pages, DOI landing pages, and cross-indexed scholarly sources were used for retrieval and verification. Titles and formal source descriptions were screened for signals linking anatomical variation with clinical risk, surgical error, curriculum, assessment, terminology, reporting, visualization, simulation, patient safety, or competency-based education. This method was designed for conceptual synthesis rather than prevalence estimation, effect-size analysis, or a complete evidence map. Six recurrent framings were identified: anatomical variation as a clinical hazard, curriculum and assessment gap, terminology and reporting problem, visualization and simulation challenge, team-communication and systems issue, and competency-based training target. These framings support defining variant anatomy literacy as the capability to anticipate, identify, interpret, adapt to, communicate, document and learn from clinically consequential anatomical variation before, during and after operative care. Surgical curricula should move beyond recall of rare variants and assess observable safety behavior under anatomical uncertainty. Practical implementation can integrate patient-specific imaging, donor contrast, simulation, operative observation, briefing and debriefing, operative-note audit, and morbidity-and-mortality learning.Surgical safety depends on recognition of patient-specific anatomy when encountered structures depart from population norms. Knowledge of anatomical variations is often treated as supplemental rather than as a safety-relevant necessity. This article aims to translate a title-informed map of literature on anatomical variation, surgical education, and patient safety into a practical competency framework for surgical training. A targeted, title-informed conceptual review was conducted in March 2026. PubMed was searched using anatomical-variation terms combined with surgery, education, patient safety, curriculum, assessment, simulation, reporting, and competency terms. PubMed Central, publisher pages, DOI landing pages, and cross-indexed scholarly sources were used for retrieval and verification. Titles and formal source descriptions were screened for signals linking anatomical variation with clinical risk, surgical error, curriculum, assessment, terminology, reporting, visualization, simulation, patient safety, or competency-based education. This method was designed for conceptual synthesis rather than prevalence estimation, effect-size analysis, or a complete evidence map. Six recurrent framings were identified: anatomical variation as a clinical hazard, curriculum and assessment gap, terminology and reporting problem, visualization and simulation challenge, team-communication and systems issue, and competency-based training target. These framings support defining variant anatomy literacy as the capability to anticipate, identify, interpret, adapt to, communicate, document and learn from clinically consequential anatomical variation before, during and after operative care. Surgical curricula should move beyond recall of rare variants and assess observable safety behavior under anatomical uncertainty. Practical implementation can integrate patient-specific imaging, donor contrast, simulation, operative observation, briefing and debriefing, operative-note audit, and morbidity-and-mortality learning.
dc.identifier.citation	Clinical Anatomy, 0, 0 (2026) 1-9
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1002/ca.70179
dc.identifier.issn	0897-3806
dc.identifier.orcid	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1781-062X
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12254/7747
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	Wiley Periodicals LLC
dc.rights	Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 3.0 Chile (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 CL)
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/cl/
dc.subject	3D printing
dc.subject	anatomical variation
dc.subject	competency-based medical education
dc.subject	curriculum
dc.subject	patient safety
dc.subject	simulation
dc.subject	surgical anatomy
dc.subject	surgical education
dc.title	Variant Anatomy Literacy as a Patient-Safety Competency in Surgical Training: A Title-Informed Conceptual Review and Competency Framework
dc.type	Article