Who will actually perform your surgery
Ask, and ask about trainees.
In teaching hospitals, residents perform much of the operation under supervision. This is normal, and it is how surgeons are trained. It is also something you are entitled to know about in advance.
In an analysis of 28,087 cesareans, operations with resident involvement took longer: about 47.5 minutes from skin incision to closure compared with 36.9 minutes, and about 8.5 minutes from incision to delivery compared with 6.9 minutes. Major complications did not differ significantly (0.6% versus 0.4%). Minor complications were more frequent (5.4% versus 2.2%), driven mostly by transfusion for bleeding.
Fair questions to ask"Who will be holding the knife? Will a resident be operating, and at what level of training? Will my attending be scrubbed in and present for the entire operation?"
Where this comes from:
315. Mims JR, Allshouse AA, Metz TD. Association between resident involvement in cesarean delivery, complications, and operative times. O&G Open. 2026;3(1):e176.
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This page is educational. It supports the conversation with your own clinicians. It is not consent to any treatment, and it cannot assess you. If you are worried about a symptom now, see urgent warning signs.