The 'scrubbed surgeon' in robotic surgery

One of the principal reasons for the rapid progress of robotic surgery has been its advantage in allowing laparoscopy naive surgeons to offer minimal access surgery to their patients. While this may continue to be an advantage of this modality, it has to be remembered that this has often been possible primarily due to the availability of an assistant who has at least basic laparoscopy skills that permit the performance of critical patient side tasks. We review the literature on the role of the assistant or the 'scrubbed surgeon' in robotic surgery and discuss the advantages of a properly trained assistant in a developing and established robotic surgery program.