TECHN O LO GY
Using New Technology to Improve Surgical Outcomes Here we feature Rafael J. Grossmann, MD, a surgeon and educator in Bangor, Maine, who performed the first-ever live surgery using Google Glass, in June 2013. This piece has been adapted from The Surgeons’ Lounge, a regular column in General Surgery News (column editor: Samuel Szomstein, MD, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston). Questions from Isabel Elssner, a senior pre-med student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill How have you been using technology to improve your surgical outcomes? There is plenty of evidence that surgical outcomes have improved significantly over the past several decades. We have to infer that the smart use of technology played a key role—from the use of anesthesia, analgesia and antisepsis, to minimally invasive, endoscopic and robotic surgery. Today’s technology is advancing in a somewhat exponential way. I think that today’s challenge is how to use these technologies to improve education and diagnostics, and to achieve equity in global access to ethical, safe and compassionate care. I think that the current socioeconomic, political and environmental landscape is creating a “perfect storm” situation that will exacerbate an already stressed health care ecosystem. If we look at how the demand for health care services is increasing versus the rapidly decreasing availability, and especially access to safe and affordable health care services, we are confronting a grave problem.
• augmented reality (AR), in which the user experiences digital content superimposed on the real world, viewed through a mobile device or a head-mounted display—think of “Pokémon Go” or the NFL’s magic “first down” yellow line; and • mixed reality (MR), in which the digital content interacts with and responds to the physical world as if it were part of the real surroundings.
Figure 1. Google Glass. How can technology help provide better access to surgical care? Technology can help. I would argue that the smarter use of technology can paradoxically create a more empathetic and humane health care system. The proper use of these tools can get us closer to our patients, and, in some way, rescue the rapidly fading doctor–patient relationship. One of the technologies that can enhance education, teaching and learning is immersive media. I’ve been involved in this field for close to a decade, sharing clinical expertise and futuristic insights to help shape its evolution. Immersive technologies refer to platforms (Figures 1-3), such as: • virtual reality (VR), in which the user is immersed in a digital, computer-generated environment or a 360-degree video, completely isolated from the surrounding real world—think of gaming in an Oculus Quest device; 14
OR Management News • Volume 16 • September 2021
How have you been using technology to improve surgical education? In the field of surgical education, there are several platforms that use VR as a way to train the next generation of surgeons. Platforms such as FundamentalSurgery, PrecisionOS, OssoVR and OramaVR are shaping the future of surgery learning. Simulation in VR to learn and practice the different steps of a surgical procedure is not new. What is exciting and innovative is the use of haptic feedback to make that experience uniquely real. That’s what FundamentalSurgery has developed: the possibility of immersing yourself in the actual surgery and providing a safe, repeatable environment to learn. The offer of repetition and damage-free failures through simulation is a key benefit for continued on page 16
