Heart Surgery for Congenital Heart Defects - Science or Art?

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This lecture will explain how surgery for congenital heart defects has developed.  It will describe the disruptive effect of the introduction of cardiopulmonary bypass, the impact of new materials, the deeper understanding of the stresses of surgery and the impact of new drugs.
However, surgery remains skill-based and the complexity of training will be outlined. Skill used to be all and the surgeons were the leaders.  Now it is all about teams, a transition that has been difficult and complex, and which is still incomplete.
Examples will be used from ground-breaking collaborative work done with Formula 1, the airline and hotel industries to emphasise the importance of teamwork, and how those teams should work.

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This event was on Wed, 19 Nov 2014

Professor Martin Elliott

Professor Martin Elliott

Professor of Physic

Martin Elliott MD FRCS is Provost of Gresham College. He is  Professor Emeritus of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UCL & Professor Emeritus of Physic at Gresham College.

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