Rethinking “technical” competence: beyond binary classifications in surgical education and practice

Abstract In this commentary we make a call to action to rethink “technical” competence. This commentary was invited in response to an article published by Cloonan et al. (2025) who report on patterns of feedback for surgical residents using a binary classification of data classified as “technical” and “non-technical”. While we welcome detailed analysis of skills, we argue that these categorisations oversimplify surgical practice and do not reflect the complex sets of skills required for safe surgical practice.