Two Michelin stars could lead to five-star surgery | Latest news

Two Michelin stars could lead to five-star surgery

One of the world’s top Michelin starred restaurants is helping to improve teamwork in some of the busiest NHS operating theatres as part of new research published by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH). 

The research was carried out at Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham and in the operating theatres at the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC). It found that not only are there similarities in the ways the teams work, but that hospital operating theatre teams have something to learn from the two Michelin starred kitchen team.

By observing the Sat Bains team in action, NHS researchers were able to identify a number of aspects of teamwork, which could be transferable to the operating theatre. 

In, “Food for thought: skills of a Michelin starred restaurant potentially transferable to theatre”, the five-strong NUH research team, led by Consultant Colorectal Surgeon Charles Maxwell-Armstrong and two Michelin-starred chef patron Sat Bains, found that team working in the kitchen could have positive results for teams in operating theatres.

Charles explains:

This is the first research done to compare the workings of a Michelin-starred kitchen with NHS surgical teams. Both are pressurised environments, which demand the very best from the teams who are expected to work to consistently high standards every day. Our aim was to find the similarities in team behaviours and identify any practices that could be successfully applied from the kitchen to the operating theatre, as part of our work to continually improve the standards of safety and quality of care for our patients.

Having such a world-renowned professional kitchen just a short distance from the QMC seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. Thanks to Sat Bains and his team, we learned a lot and our colleagues in theatres at NUH are really enthusiastic to put these ideas into practice.

The research concluded that five examples of team working from Restaurant Sat Bains could be applied to the operating theatre:

  • use of a “stop moment” – the ability of the any member of the team to stop proceedings if a problem or a potential error occurs
  • implementing closed-loop communication – this involves using short, unambiguous communication which is verbally acknowledged (typically in the kitchen this is with a “yes, chef”)
  • undertaking weekly prospective briefings about planned activity – so that at the end of one week, there is a clear plan for the following week;
  • displaying visual poster guides for each procedure – in the kitchen these are check boards so that staff know exactly what the preparation of each dish entails; and
  • using cameras to track the progress of operations so that staff outside of the theatres can see the progress being made and make preparations for the next patient.

The NUH research team found that there were potentially beneficial behaviours in a professional kitchen that either didn’t happen in operating theatres or where they did occur, the team of chefs did them better. By discussing these with the surgical teams at NUH, the research identified a number of ways that the team working shown by chefs who produce some of the best food in the world could be applied in the operating theatre. 

Now some of these lessons will be applied in operating theatres at NUH to improve the safety and efficiency of team working in a range of surgical procedures.

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and analyse our traffic. By clicking accept you consent to our use of cookies. More information can be found here.

Please choose a setting: