title: Neurological surgery: the influence of physical and mental demands on humans performing complex operations.
abstract: Performing neurological surgery is an inherently demanding task on the human body, both physically and mentally. Neurosurgeons routinely perform "high stakes" operations in the setting of mental and physical fatigue. These conditions may be not only the result of demanding operations, but also influential to their outcome. Similar to other performance-based endurance activities, training is paramount to successful outcomes. The inflection point, where training reaches the point of diminishing returns, is intensely debated. For the neurosurgeon, this point must be exploited to the maximum, as patients require both the best-trained and best-performing surgeon. In this review, we explore the delicate balance of training and performance, as well as some routinely used adjuncts to improve human performance.
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit Street, White Building Room 502, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors: Sarah K
authors: SK
authors: Bourne
authors: Brian P
authors: BP
authors: Walcott
authors: Sameer A
authors: SA
authors: Sheth
authors: Jean-Valery C E
authors: JV
authors: Coumans
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D005221:Fatigue; D006801:Humans; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000592:standards; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards