Search

The surgical working environment has changed considerably since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), a pandemic on 11 March 2020. Measures remain in place to reduce the risk of spread from patients to surgeons, nosocomial infection and amongst healthcare workers. However, despite these protective measures, healthcare staff are at risk with the number of health workforce deaths increasing worldwide. This article sets out to explore the roles and responsibilities of the surgeon during these extraordinary times and discuss how we can improve our practice to reduce the risk of harm to patients, surgical staff and ourselves.

There is growing evidence to suggest that the success of a team relies not just on its leader, but also on team members or followers. Effective leadership is a two-way relationship between a leader and their followers with problems on either side leading to potential safety issues as well as effects on morale and wellbeing. Assertive, or courageous, followership has been identified as a means to make a team safer. In this article we review the role of followers, and discuss how assertive followership can make for a safer and more effective team.