Webcast: practical telementoring…for surgery

April 9, 2016 | by

Watch a live interactive webcast, free, with international surgical experts as they show and discuss actual cases using the currently available methods for surgical telementoring.  Utilising VisitOR1, off-the-shelf software services, and Google Glass, these studies will show the comparative strengths of each platform; real-world tips will be shared.  You and your institution will learn methods to improve skills and teach new procedures by remote presence. Watch the various “budget-friendly” ways to accomplish this goal.

The event will be broadcast live at 7pm BST on 18th May – a perfect warm-up for those attending the Royal Society of Medicine – and the Institution of Engineering & Technology’s – premier telemedicine event of the year the following day: the Future of Medicine: the role of Doctors in 2025.

This event was planned by The American Medical Foundation for Peer Review and Education, a leader in the organisation and support of surgical telementoring initiatives. There is more information on the most current approaches already implemented in their publication “Surgical Telementoring News” edited by Evelyn Baram-Clothier, PhG, JD

Register for the webcast here.

(Disclosure this editor participated in the planning for this event on behalf of the Royal Society of Medicine.)

Is ‘pure’ robotic telesurgery nearing reality?

September 9, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Nicholson-Center-FL.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Moving beyond robot-assisted surgery (e.g. the well-accepted use of the daVinci system with prostate surgery), controlled by a surgeon present in the operating room, is telesurgery, where a remote surgeon uses a robot to fully perform surgery at a distant location. The Nicholson Center at Florida Hospital in Celebration, Florida, which specializes in training surgeons and technicians in leading (bleeding?-Ed.) edge techniques, is studying how internet latency (lag time to the non-techie) affects surgical effectiveness. Latency is defined in this case as “the amount of delay a surgeon can experience between the moment they perform an action to the moment video of the action being carried out at the surgery site reaches their eyes.” Their testing so far is that internet latency for surgery between hospitals has a threshold of 200-500 milliseconds before dexterity drops off dramatically (not desirable)–and that given the current state of the internet, it is achievable even at a mid-range distance tested (Florida to Texas). Making this a reality is highly desirable to military services worldwide, where expertise may be in, for example, Germany, and the casualty is in Afghanistan. It would also be a boon for organizations such as the Veterans Health Administration (VA) where resources are stretched thin, rural health and for relief agencies’ disaster recovery. ZDNet

Going Googly over Glass: reviews

December 6, 2013 | by

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/3022534-inline-s-6-a-surgeons-review-of-google-glass-in-the-operating-room.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Glass has been out long enough and used widely enough in the health/medical area to have some meaningful reviews. The hot area seems to be surgery, and having previewed this at the end of a minimally invasive hernia surgery during Heather Evans, MD’s talk at the NYeC Digital Health Conference [TTA 16 Nov; also her AAS article], this Editor knew more were to come. University of California-San Francisco formally received the first approval from the Institutional Review Board to use Glass during surgeries (iHealthBeat 27 Nov). Pierre Theodore, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at UCSF, prior to that point performed 10 to 15 surgeries with Glass assistance. From a longer article in Fast Company: “His conclusion so far: the technology is indeed useful in the operating room as an adjunct device in delivering necessary information, but it still has miles to go as a product.” Other drawbacks are its dependence on an optimal Wi-Fi signal which can be chancy in an OR, its weakness on voice commands, being able to easily scan X-rays during surgery, patient privacy and very importantly, sanitization. Completely hands-free operation is the surgeon’s goal. (Photo of Dr. Theodore courtesy of Fast Company)

Google Glass-assisted operation: another first?

September 24, 2013 | by

Although we previously reported on the first operation performed using Google Glass, Solar News claims this week that Spain hosted the first Google Glass assisted operation, in Madrid.

Dr. Pedro Guillen performed a chondrocyte transplant (a procedure used to treat cartilage injuries) in the knee of a 49-year-old male. The entire procedure was streamed live via the glasses, to an audience of 150 doctors in the United States, Europe and Australia.

Apart from providing videoconference capability, Julian Beltran, CEO of Droiders, the company that built the software, says Google Glass opens a world of new tools to surgeons as they work.  “You can see in the prism the arthroscopy and perform the surgery without having to move the head to the right. For example you can see pictures, educational videos, remember how to perform a surgery, see an x-ray, consult the interaction of medicines or information you need. Everything connected to the internet,” he said.

Droiders say they have plans to build new software which will also help doctors to check the patient´s heart rate just by looking to their faces.

Thanks to Prof Mike Short for alerting me to this.