Safer Surgery: Analysing Behaviour in the Operating Theatre was highly commended in the Surgery Category at the British Medical Association’s 2010 Annual Book Awards, this week.
The review judges said of the book, edited by Professor Rhona Flin and Lucy Mitchell, both University of Aberdeen: ‘This excellent and original book is clearly targeted at its intended audience.’
The book is one of the first to assemble and deliver recent studies on the factors influencing safe and efficient surgical, anaesthetic and nursing practice.
Professor Rhona Flin and Miss Mitchell brought together contributions from leading psychologists, surgeons and anaesthetists.
The result is an authoritative reference for practitioners and researchers interested in understanding how the behaviour of operating team members can have a major impact on the patients.
In recent years it has become clear that the difference between successful outcomes and adverse events in the operating theatre can be significantly affected by the non-technical skills of the operating team members.
These skills, such as decision making and teamwork, are regularly trained in aviation and nuclear industries.
In the current economic climate, when there is pressure to deliver a more cost-effective health service , without reducing safety, such skills are all the more important.