Ensuring excellence and competence in surgery: The imperative of mentorship from historical and philosophical perspectives

How can the surgical disciplines (1) attract and recruit students of the highest capabilities and ideals; (2) ensure professional competency; and (3) maximize efficacy and safety of biotechnology translated to patient care? Critique of the occidental humanistic literature. The imperative of mentorship is grounded in the philosophical traditions of occidental society dating from antiquity. This essay affirms that imperative in relationship to the surgical disciplines from an historical perspective.