Practice does not always make perfect: need for selection curricula in modern surgical training.

Background: It is hypothesized that not all surgical trainees are able to reach technical competence despite ongoing practice. The objectives of the study were to assess a trainees' ability to reach technical competence by assessing learning patterns of the acquisition of surgical skills. Furthermore, it aims to determine whether individuals' learning patterns were consistent across a range of open and laparoscopic tasks of variable difficulty.