The Role of the 'Team' for Operative Laparoscopy: Emphasis on Instrumentation, Equipment, and Care Before, During, and After Surgery

The role of the operating room ‘‘team’’ before, during and after operative laparoscopy has expanded greatly over the past several decades. Minimally invasive surgical treatments for women have expanded to include a multitude of procedures. Although these treatment advances have expanded, so has the role of operating room personnel. As a result of phenomenal visualization, everyone in the operating room can anticipate, participate, and follow laparoscopic procedures from the simplest to the most intricate. The role of the team is more important than ever. Most would agree, the more efficient the team, the better the surgeon, which, in turn, may be directly correlated to the efficacy of the surgical treatment of the patient and ultimately the potential for improved patient outcomes. There is an important continuum with all types of surgery, and operative laparoscopy is no exception. The efficiency of the ‘‘team’’ is dependent on the continuum of care of the patient beginning with the preoperative period, through surgery, and culminating during the postoperative period. The ‘‘team’’ encompasses everyone involved with the care of the patient before, during, and after surgery. Specifically, in all 3 of these areas the team refers to perioperative nurses (to include preoperative nurses, the circulating nurse or nurses, laser nurse when a laser is used, and recovery room or postanesthesia care unit [PACU] nurses), anesthesiologist or anesthetist, surgeon, surgical assistant, surgical technician, and the person who cleans the instruments as well as anyone else involved in the surgery and care of the patient. The key ingredient for the team to be successful is that all these people who are involved in some manner with the care of the patient (either directly or indirectly) work together through effective communication to provide the patient with the best possible surgical experience. This includes a variety of people in the continuum of overall patient care [1–13].