A Sociocultural Approach to Interprofessional Learning and Collaboration in Robotic-Assisted Surgery: Challenges of the Scientification of Work in the Operating Room

This collaborative research was conducted on robotic-assisted surgery within a Swiss academic hospital. We used a methodology of cross self-confrontation to investigate learning and training in the operating room with three different populations: surgeons, surgical nurses and operating room assistants. In particular, we researched whether videorecordings from real operations can be transformed into learning and teaching tools. We highlight three aspects of our findings: (a) all professions report mixed feelings regarding a demanding situation; (b) an academic hospital is a setting in which a complex and flexible interplay of technical and didactic functions is observed; (c) the solving of potential technical problems tends to be delegated by surgeons to hierarchically lower-level professionals, i.e. surgical nurses and operating room assistants. As a conclusion, the research exemplifies the needs for additional teaching and learning spaces outside the operating room, as well as the challenges of learning scientificated knowledge—in-action in this medical setting.