Dedicated operating room teams for highly specialized procedures in a tertiary children's hospital: the Rotterdam...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Surgery
• Surgical Team Organization
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Complex pediatric surgical procedures often start with limited case volumes, posing challenges for surgical and anesthesia teams.
• High-risk operations necessitate robust organizational strategies to ensure optimal patient outcomes.
• Tertiary children's hospitals aim for the highest standards of care, requiring continuous quality improvement initiatives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the challenges, benefits, indications, and alternatives for establishing dedicated operating room teams in pediatric surgery.
• To provide insights into creating effective specialized surgical teams based on practical experience and literature.
• To evaluate the impact of dedicated teams on patient care quality and operational efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Drawing from personal experience at a tertiary children's hospital.
• Reviewing scientific literature on specialized surgical teams.
• Describing the establishment of a dedicated team for neonatal thoracoscopic procedures at Erasmus MC Sophia Children's Hospital.
• Highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration agreements.

Main Results:

• Establishing a dedicated team led to significant organizational and internal challenges but resulted in a cohesive unit with mutual trust.
• Implementation of a structured routine markedly improved the workflow of surgical procedures.
• Dedicated teams can enhance the quality of patient care for specific high-risk procedures.

Conclusions:

• Dedicated operating room teams can improve workflow and patient care for complex, high-risk pediatric surgeries.
• Interdisciplinary collaboration and mutual trust are crucial for successful team formation and function.
• Super specialization, like dedicated teams, should be reserved for exceptional, low-volume, high-risk procedures where existing high standards need further enhancement.