The idea for the Operation Primer series originated in a scienti? c study entitled " Mental Training in Surgical Education" that formed part of a collaborative project between the surgical department of the University of Cologne, the Institute of Sports and Sports Sciences of the University of Heidelberg and the European Surgical Institute (ESI) in Norderstedt. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of mental training, which has been used successfully in top-class sports for decades, on surgical training. However, in order for mental training to be applied to surgery, it ? rst had to...