[Interdisciplinary collaboration between anesthesia and surgery : Which key issues need to be addressed?]

A close interdisciplinary collaboration between anesthesia and surgery is essential to ensure that our mutual patients receive the best possible care throughout the entire surgical process. Both specialties have different tasks and perspectives and only when these are balanced with rather than against each other can the operating room, along with all related preoperative and postoperative measures, become a place where excellent medicine, patient safety and efficient management go hand in hand. Despite potential areas of conflict interdisciplinary cooperation between surgeons and anesthesiologists can be highly effective when mutual respect, structured communication and shared decision-making are upheld and cultivated. This article aims to provide an overview of some key prerequisites for successful collaboration in this context.