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It's Not Just About the Surgeon. How's the Team?
John Wooden, the Iconic UCLA basketball coach, wrote about what made his teams the great champions they were. He felt he team is more important than any individual. That you can win a championship without a superstar, but you can't win a championship without the five players acting like a team.
There is an analogy to that within the operating room world. It takes a team of highly skilled professionals to best serve the patient. While the surgeon is the captain of the team, the roles of the others within the operating room are no less important.
At every operation there must be a surgical assistant. Surgical assistants, who may or may not be registered nurses, are trained to pass instruments and assist the surgeon with various aspects of the operation. He or she is always at the operating table with the surgeon.
There must be a registered nurse in the operating room at all times. The role of the registered nurse is to provide and record medications used during surgery, to assist the anesthesia specialist as needed, and to act as chief quality control officer.
Most operations are done with an anesthesia specialist in attendance for the patient's comfort and safety. That may be a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist or a physician-anesthesiologist. Which of these two classes of professionals serve the patient is decided by the surgeon.
Just as a basketball team with the same members playing the same position every day will develop a rhythm, consistency and efficiency, so is it in the operating room. When that same veteran team is assembled daily, great benefit is in play for the patient. There is accuracy, less chance for error. There is efficiency and effectiveness which translate to shorter operating times without any sacrifice of quality.
In surgery, repetition of the same limited number of operations by the same surgeon and his team is one of the keys to a safe and successful operating room experience. Prospective patients should always ask the surgeons about his or her team. And, whether or not there will be a nurse anesthetist or a physician–anesthesiologist "at the controls", and how often the doctor works with that particular professional.
The patient has the right to know all about who is caring for him/her.
—Robert Kotler, MD, FACS
There is an analogy to that within the operating room world. It takes a team of highly skilled professionals to best serve the patient. While the surgeon is the captain of the team, the roles of the others within the operating room are no less important.
At every operation there must be a surgical assistant. Surgical assistants, who may or may not be registered nurses, are trained to pass instruments and assist the surgeon with various aspects of the operation. He or she is always at the operating table with the surgeon.
There must be a registered nurse in the operating room at all times. The role of the registered nurse is to provide and record medications used during surgery, to assist the anesthesia specialist as needed, and to act as chief quality control officer.
Most operations are done with an anesthesia specialist in attendance for the patient's comfort and safety. That may be a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist or a physician-anesthesiologist. Which of these two classes of professionals serve the patient is decided by the surgeon.
Just as a basketball team with the same members playing the same position every day will develop a rhythm, consistency and efficiency, so is it in the operating room. When that same veteran team is assembled daily, great benefit is in play for the patient. There is accuracy, less chance for error. There is efficiency and effectiveness which translate to shorter operating times without any sacrifice of quality.
In surgery, repetition of the same limited number of operations by the same surgeon and his team is one of the keys to a safe and successful operating room experience. Prospective patients should always ask the surgeons about his or her team. And, whether or not there will be a nurse anesthetist or a physician–anesthesiologist "at the controls", and how often the doctor works with that particular professional.
The patient has the right to know all about who is caring for him/her.
—Robert Kotler, MD, FACS
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