High Volume Multidisciplinary Surgical Team Experience: Reduced Operative Times and Better Patient Outcomes

Background: Teamwork is increasingly being recognized as an important factor in surgical outcomes, especially in rare procedures requiring advanced technical skills, such as the middle fossa craniotomy (MFC) approach to vestibular schwannoma resection. The MFC requires excellent communication, swift, yet collaborative, decision-making, and an understanding of the leadership structure in the operating room. Decision-making collaboration extends outside of the operating room (OR) to the choice of the particular type of patient characteristics which would most likely benefit from specific approaches. Examination of outcomes from a recently formed team provides an excellent context to explore team formation on patient outcome.