Letter From the Guest Editor: Nontechnical Skills in Cardiothoracic Surgery

For this CTSNet Guest Editor Series, Nontechnical Skills in Cardiothoracic Surgery, we asked Professor Jean-Marc Baste to bring together videos that highlight the importance of skills that are critical for leading cardiothoracic surgical teams effectively.

Dear CTSNet Reader,

The objective of this series is to highlight the importance of nontechnical skills, or Notechs, in cardiothoracic surgery by presenting different initiatives to improve patient safety and surgical performance. To deal with Notech is a matter of culture and is hard to implement in surgical training. Communication, cooperation, decision-making, leadership, and situational awareness are concepts for many, and their application in surgical practice is both essential and challenging. The competency framework in cardiothoracic surgery has evolved toward wider components that include Notechs as a cornerstone in surgeon training.

Knowledge of Notechs should be associated with practical sessions using simulation as an innovative teaching tool. In this series, our faculty will present different aspects of Notechs and how to teach them: Gianlucca Casali, who is involved in the Notechs ESTS course, will describe the large spectrum of Notechs; René Petersen will explore the “Shared Mental Model” in a VATS Team; Joel Dunning will describe team training with crisis resource management (CRM) during procedures performed in the catheterization laboratory; and I will present my institution’s CRM program for robotic thoracic surgical procedures.

We hope that you find these discussions informative and educational.

Sincerely,

Jean-Marc Baste

Team Training and Crisis Resource Management in Robot-Assisted Thoracic Surgery
by Jean-Marc Baste, Benjamin Bottet

Thinking Better: Context-Specific Decision-Making Tools
by Gianluca Casali

Practicing for Emergencies in the Cath Lab: The REACT Protocol
by Joel Dunning, David Lizotte

Shared Mental Model in VATS Lobectomy
by Rene Petersen