Teamwork in the Cardiac Surgical Operating Room

Teamwork remains an essential component of patient safety and optimal care delivery in the context of cardiac surgery within the operating room (OR) given the high acuity of cardiac surgical patients in an extremely complex environment. This environment is also associated often with prolonged periods of high cognitive load that requires multiple teams (cardiac surgery, anesthesia, perfusion, nursing, scrub nurse) to collaborate within and across their respective technical, organizational, and inter-disciplinary boundaries (Kennedy-Metz et al., J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 163(3):1096–104, 2022, Wilson et al., Ann Thorac Surg 103(4):1049–54, 2017). This collaboration is vital as it provides a framework to adopt promptly to all evolving patient-related surgical needs while minimizing any potential for human-driven errors. This chapter will examine the roles and responsibilities of various teams within the cardiac OR, provide an overview of timing of high cognitive load for each of the respective teams, and finally examine various factors that promote or enhance a culture of safety in the cardiac OR.