Microsoft is partnering with Stryker to help redesign operating rooms:
For as much as many are focused on the gaming and consumer-level productivity potentialities of XR, much of the progress in the field is happening in other markets, like industry and medicine. To wit, Microsoft announced that it's partnering with a medical technology company called Stryker to use HoloLens to design better operating rooms.
In a blog post, Microsoft explained that, "Everything from lighting, to equipment, tools, and even patient orientation, varies depending on who is using the operating room at any given moment. Equipment placement is critical as it effects [sic] ergonomics, efficiency, and task load, all of which have the potential to burden staff and slow procedures." To design better operating rooms, the company said, heads of multiple surgical disciplines need to physically meet to solve these issues, and a 3D design environment can help them do so much more efficiently.
From the blog post:
You may not be aware of it, but surgical disciplines from general, to urologic, orthopedic, cardiac, and ear nose and throat (ENT) use shared operating rooms. These specialties have widely different needs when it comes to operating room configuration and setup. Everything from lighting, to equipment, tools, and even patient orientation, varies depending on who is using the operating room at any given moment. Equipment placement is critical as it effects ergonomics, efficiency, and task load, all of which have the potential to burden staff and slow procedures.
Today, for hospitals to successfully design operating rooms that will accommodate these various medical disciplines, a critical meeting must take place. In this meeting, the heads of each surgical discipline, along with their staff, are physically present to outline the desired layout and implementation needed to successfully complete their procedures. This is a complicated and time-consuming process where people and a complex array of technology and equipment are shuffled around to determine what goes where, and when, to see how it will all fit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 23 2017, @09:19AM
When you have a hammer everything looks like a nail. And Microsoft is looking for something to use their expensive hammers on.
I don't think sub-optimal operating theatres are a real problem.
The main problem I see is doctors in hospitals around the world seem to be rather overworked. That's likely to affect outcomes more than different operating theatres.
Some processes could be improved. Apparently in many hospitals it's not clearly defined who is in charge during patient hand-overs.
More hospitals should be looking into stuff like this:
http://www.post-gazette.com/health/2006/11/14/Hospital-races-to-learn-lessons-of-Ferrari-crew/stories/200611140234 [post-gazette.com]
The Ferrari man wasn't impressed. "In fact, he was amazed" at how clumsy and informal the hospital handover process appeared to be, recalls Mr. Catchpole, now a researcher at Oxford University.
In that meeting, Mr. Stepney described how each member of the Ferrari crew is required to do a specific job, in a specific sequence, and usually in silence. By contrast, he noted, the hospital handover was often chaotic. Several conversations between nurses and doctors went on at once. Meanwhile, different members of the team disconnected or reconnected equipment to a patient, but in no particular order.
In a Formula One race, the "lollipop man" with a paddle ushers the car in and signals the driver when it's safe to go. But in the hospital setting, it wasn't always clear who was in charge. Though the anesthesiologist had nominal responsibility to take the lead during a handover, sometimes the surgeon assumed that role -- or no one at all.
More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1527497/Ferrari-pit-stop-saves-Alexanders-life.html [telegraph.co.uk]
http://218.248.31.202/journal/article/2016-03-05%20%20Making%20case%20for%20quality%20Ferrari%20and%20Handovers-%20Devendra%20AEH%20Madurai%20-.pdf [218.248.31.202]
http://docplayer.net/34768421-Assessing-handovers-the-formula-1-model.html [docplayer.net]