Expertise in the Operating Room

This book provides the logistics, fundamentals, and nuances for all involved in surgery to optimize performance and results in the operating room. A surgical operation is a detailed coordination of a complex procedure involving the integration of many people, facilities, and supplies. The efficiency and success of an operation foremost depends on the professionalism of its staff. These medical professionals must understand the tasks of the operating room milieu of individuals. The surgeon, surgeon’s assistant, anesthesiologist, scrub nurse, circulating and recovery room nurses all determine an operation’s success and efficiency. Medical professional education too often focuses on senior level preparatory education or capstone projects rather than mastering day to day practical information or techniques.  A reflection of this quandary is the establishment of surgical intern “boot camps.” These industry subsidized courses taken after medical school graduation are one- or two-week courses whose curriculum is to train recent medical school graduates how to function as surgeons. Patients deserve the work of professionals in and out of the operating room.