Augmented Cognition in the Operating Room

With the tremendous advances in technology and computational systems that occurred in the last three decades, we have integrated novel technologies in virtually all human activities, with the ultimate goal of improving performance and enhancing safety in the workplace. As a high-stakes, high-risk human activity, with increasing level of complexity, surgery has also incorporated computational systems to the clinical workflow in the operating room (OR) in order to optimize processes and support the surgical team. In the OR, cognition is extended outside individual team members’ minds toward the entire surgical team and, even further, throughout all human and nonhuman systems involved during surgery. In this chapter, we describe the foundations that underpin augmented cognition in the OR, as well as the existing evidence in this realm. Lastly, we discuss future implications and applications of cognitive augmentation in the surgical setting.