Advancing Healthcare
Did you know that not every surgery or medical procedure is recorded in healthcare? This might be quite surprising, considering that patients entrust healthcare professionals with their most valuable asset, their health. In other high-responsibility fields, such as aviation, recording every action and communication is standard practice. This approach proves invaluable when incidents occur, as it allows analysis to prevent future occurrences.
Interestingly, according to Birkmeyer et al. (2013), the rate of postoperative complications is strongly correlated with the surgeon’s skills and is often used as an indicator of surgical success. Simply put, complications suggest that the surgery may not have gone well, while the absence of complications indicates the opposite. This does not cover situations where the quality of the procedure was poor, yet no complications occurred. Naturally, this leaves a risk that things might turn out differently next time.
A Simple Solution with Significant Benefits
One straightforward solution to the aforementioned challenges is recording procedures into video recordings. However, this is not the only advantage that comes from video recording. There are many advantages that come with video and are helping enhance the healthcare quality. Upon reading these words, one might immediately think of its use for educational purposes, which is definitely one of its important features. Any publications or presentations by experts contain images and videos from examinations, whether radiological, endoscopic, or directly from surgical procedures, which could not have been captured without the possibility of recording.
In addition to educational and evaluative purposes, Youssef et al. (2023), in their study, also focused on other areas where video utilization can contribute to improving care. For instance, the quality of operative reports supported by videos was found to be significantly more accurate and thorough compared to reports without video. Moreover, during recorded surgeries, there was a notable reduction in communication among staff regarding unrelated matters, leading to a decrease in the overall duration of the procedure.
We can therefore say that a higher level of oversight resulting from the use of video during procedures leads to greater accountability among staff and, consequently, to improved healthcare.
These few examples illustrate that the presence of recording during surgeries and procedures can bring benefits in many aspects.
Why is Video Recording Not a Standard for All Procedures?
There are several reasons why doctors do not record all procedures, or even any. The most common reason from a doctor’s perspective is that recording is too complicated to operate and takes too much time, which healthcare staff cannot afford. The possibilities for further work with the video are quite limited, or recording with just one camera distorts the view of the procedure during subsequent evaluation. This creates a general reluctance to use these systems.
From a management perspective, which is an integral part of the decision-making process when acquiring video systems, the reason is that video is not essential for performing the procedure. Possible issues with archiving or cost-performance ratio are also concerns. Almost all of these arguments arise from bad experiences with certain recording systems.
Are These Really Obstacles to Recording?
No. Many high-quality recording systems for healthcare already have workflows designed in such a way that creating a recording doesn’t take much time, and operating them requires only minimal effort. These systems also allow for additional post-production of recordings with intuitive controls, which again minimizes the demands on users, making the system more accessible to a broader audience.
The best systems today can record all visual inputs, creating a clearer overview of the entire procedure rather than just a part of it when replayed.
Regarding the management arguments, yes, recording is not strictly necessary, but neither is robotic surgery, and it is becoming more and more popular because it brings numerous benefits. As for storage, it is no longer as much of an issue as it used to be. High-quality systems, thanks to their smart solutions, can enable archiving on more affordable storage systems, providing the possibility of long-term storage of recorded data.
Video is Not Just Recording
It is true that video is most commonly associated with recording footage. However, once you are able to process signals from cameras, using them only for recording would be a missed opportunity. Therefore, many systems, in addition to recording, offer live broadcasting and streaming capabilities, which can be used for remote consultations, lectures, supervision, and other purposes that also improve and enhance healthcare.
The best systems are now so advanced that creating a live broadcast is as easy as it is on your smartphones, so, for example, hospitals no longer need to pay external companies for high-quality broadcasts; instead, they can secure the entire transmission themselves.
These systems now commonly communicate with other widely used systems in healthcare, creating an entire ecosystem for managing video, images, and other necessary metadata for categorization and easy retrieval of recordings.
Underestimation and Cost
As in many other fields, there is a common belief that the more expensive a product is, the better quality it will automatically have. There are several types of systems, ranging from very simple ones that only record from a single camera to complex systems with many more features. What is interesting, however, is that there are also complex systems whose prices are close to those of simple solutions, and there are also relatively expensive solutions that only offer basic features and functions.
Due to the underestimation of the purchase of these systems by healthcare providers, expensive systems are still being bought that do not offer much functionality. I have personally witnessed several installations across Europe where a lot of money was spent on a system, which was then never used because it was too complicated to operate and took too much time from the users.
The positive trend is that healthcare providers are increasingly realizing the importance and role of video in healthcare, and as a result, some are now approaching the selection and purchase of these systems with great care.
About the Author
Matúš Baláž is currently the CEO of the successful startup Medirecord, where he strives to implement his vision of bringing high-quality products to healthcare at reasonable prices.
Birkmeyer, John D., et al. “Surgical Skill and Complication Rates after Bariatric Surgery.” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 369, no. 15, 2013, pp. 1434–1442.
Youssef, Samy Cheikh, et al. “Evolution of the Digital Operating Room: The Place of Video Technology in Surgery.” Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery, vol. 408, 2023, p. 95.
