Research shows that facilities should monitor a surgeon's performance closely as he approaches the end of his career.

Does the age of your surgeons impact the safety of your patients? It might. Several studies have shown that surgeons aged 35 to 50 perform safer surgery than their younger or older colleagues.

Over the years, research has found that the "sweet spot" in a surgeon's career typically starts after 10 to 15 years in the field. This summer, a study published in the Annals of Surgery found that after an initial learning phase, surgeons hit a plateau in their performance.

In that study, researchers found that surgeons hit a performance plateau anywhere from 1 to 15 years into their career, depending on the specialty. For example, the study found that laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be learned in 8 cases, while it takes at least 5 years for a septomeatoplasty.

But evidence also suggests that performance deteriorates as time goes on. In a 2012 French study, researchers looked at links between surgeons' experience and the risk of their patient suffering from complications after thyroid surgery. They found that surgeons hit their peak performance between the ages of 35 and 50, while those practicing for 20 or more years had a much higher risk of patients suffering from complications.

These findings support increased monitoring of surgical performance, especially as surgeons reach the end of their career, researchers say. While the cause of this decline isn't clear, experts suspect that mental fatigue, poorer compliance with evidence based medicine or reduced stress tolerance could all be contributing factors.

"We need to ensure that hospitals and surgical departments have mechanisms in place to monitor individual surgical performance and identify areas for potential intervention before any deterioration takes place," Imperial College of London researcher Majd El-Harasis told the British Medical Journal. "We also need more studies comparing learning curves between procedures and specialties."

Kendal Gapinski