Smaller pieces of the hysterectomy pie: current challenges in resident surgical education.

Residents in obstetrics and gynecology are increasingly confronted with a wider range of techniques that must be mastered to perform hysterectomy, including abdominal, vaginal, laparoscopic, and robotic approaches. This is accompanied by a decrease in the number of hysterectomies performed annually. Possible solutions to the dilemma created for surgical teaching includes a comprehensive program evaluating surgical competency by establishing numbers needed to achieve competency for specific major procedures.