Consensus guidelines on the bedside assistant skills required in robotic surgery.

BACKGROUND

While bedside assistants play a critical role in many robotic operations, substantial heterogeneity remains in bedside assistant training pathways. As such, this study aimed to develop consensus guidelines for bedside assistant skills required for team members in robotic operations.

METHODS

We designed a study using the Delphi process to develop consensus guidelines around bedside assistant skills. We generated an initial list of bedside assistant skills from the literature, training materials, and expert input. We selected experts for the Delphi process based on prior scholarship in the area of robotic bedside assistant education and experience facilitating robotic bedside assistant training. For each item, respondents specified which robotic team members should have the skill from a list of "basic" bedside assistants, "advanced" bedside assistants, surgeons, surgical technologists, and circulating nurses. We conducted two rounds of the Delphi process and defined 80% agreement as sufficient for consensus.

RESULTS

Fourteen experts participated in two rounds of the Delphi process. By the end of the second round, the group had reached consensus on 253 of 305 items (83%). The group determined that "basic" bedside assistants should have 52 skills and that "advanced" bedside assistants should have 60 skills. The group also determined that surgeons should have 54 skills, surgical technologists should have 25 skills, and circulating nurses should have 17 skills. Experts agreed that all participants should have certain communication skills and basic knowledge of aspects of the robotic system.

CONCLUSIONS

We developed consensus guidelines on the skills required during robotic surgery by bedside assistants and other team members using the Delphi process. These findings can be used to design training around bedside assistant skills and assess team members to ensure that each team member has the appropriate skills. Hospitals can also use these guidelines to standardize expectations for robotic team members.