The OR is an incredibly complex mixture of technique and technology. Driven by the exorbitantly rising cost of healthcare and a push towards value-based care, the demand for new, innovative, and cost-saving technologies has continued to grow.
In recent years, the rise of IoT technologies and digital video recordings are making huge changes across the medical field, but especially when it comes to surgery. As the operating room is often the largest revenue stream for a hospital, it is of little surprise that surgery is at the forefront of technological integration.
Among the myriad new technologies that are being implemented, multi-channel video recording technology stands out as a front-runner as it both seeks to improve patient outcomes while helping hospitals to cut the cost of healthcare through quality management initiatives. In assessing how this technology achieves this, there are two main areas that are most directly impacted: training and continuing education for surgical staff and better real-time visualization.
Augmenting Education
The rigors of becoming a surgeon are well-known. And while advances in medicine continue to improve our understanding of the human body, current training techniques face limitations in their ability to realistically portray the full-range of complications and outcomes in the OR. Currently, medical students are trained using simulations and modules. While these scenarios can serve as a placeholder for surgical experience, they are an ineffective ersatz for reality. And once these medical students become practicing surgeons, there are fewer opportunities for them to receive comprehensive continuing education and critical peer review of their technique and rationale, while still maintaining a full worklist in the OR.
This is where multi-channel video recording enters the scene. Video-recordings of surgical procedures allows medical students to view real-life scenarios. Studying surgical technique and understanding how surgeons assess and make decisions in the OR helps to teach the next generation best practices and standardize them at the point-of-care. Comparing the same procedure from two different surgeons, for example, can reveal how small variations in technique can impact patient outcomes. It can also reveal how patients with certain risk factors may require different kinds of care. Using real-life video to teach students reflects the finer intricacies that modules and simulations are often unable to replicate.
Continuing education for practicing surgeons has been particularly difficult, because few hospitals possess the visualization of the surgical suite to review technique, or assess whether decisions made in situ were appropriate. Having video recording, however, changes all of this. With multiple views, peers are able to review and assess surgical technique and analyze their impact on patient outcomes. Being able to offer a tangible set of recommendations on changes at such a granular level means that surgeons will be able to more effectively hone and refine their skills.
Eyes On The Prize
In surgery, being able to visualize what is happening inside the patient is everything. It allows surgical staff to assess patient condition and decide on the best course of treatment. When it comes to more finite and intricate surgeries, however, this becomes increasingly difficult. As a result, hospitals are often unable to perform more complex surgeries as the risk to the patient is often too high without the appropriate equipment to perform the surgery safely.
Multi-channel video recording is changing the game, however. This, in combination with OR integration technology, help to give the greatest visualization possible to surgical staff. Having more views in real-time of what’s going on inside the patient allows surgeons to perform surgeries with greater precision. Bringing such technology into the OR means that hospitals will be able to perform more specialized and high-profile surgeries. This is important for attracting top surgeons, building a reputation of being at the forefront of healthcare.
Utilizing multi-channel video recording in combination with minimally-invasive laparoscopic technology, for example, fosters patient safety and aids in reducing patient risk-- all helping to position the patient for a positive outcome. Not to mention that under the value-based care system, reducing risk and improving outcomes directly impacts the hospital’s bottom line.
Conclusion
While healthcare remains hesitant to embrace the latest technology, multi-channel video recording simply makes sense. From training and technique to precision and patient outcomes, digital video recording in the OR helps hospitals provide more efficacious care while reducing costs. Through embracing such technology, hospitals are positioning themselves for future success.
