Tools and applications, in common use elsewhere in life, are still not standard in healthcare settings

In an era of cutting edge surgical techniques, where advanced robotics is increasingly employed and operations are ever more minimally invasive, it may be surprising to learn that surgeons must still use so-called dinosaur technologies, such as DVDs, in order to review their cases.

George Murgatroyd is the general manager and vice-president of digital technologies within the surgical business at Medtronic. While the medical devices behemoth, which has a long-standing presence in Ireland, has pioneered the development of a number of tools that healthcare workers and surgeons use on a daily basis, from sophisticated staplers to the aforementioned robots, they are now turning their hand to digital solutions that would allow surgeons and their teams forget the DVDs and consequently improve training, education, and ultimately patient care.

“Medtronic devices have had a massive impact on the quality and efficiency of patient care,” says Murgatroyd. “As an organisation we have moved into the digital sphere, including AI, because of the opportunity to improve patient care and physician working practices.”

A survey carried out by Medtronic in the UK involved asked over 300 surgeons to estimate the impact of antiquated technology on their working lives. The respondents suggested that, on average, they lost four hours of their average working week due to old technology and outdated software.

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“Extrapolating that out, in Ireland this could mean four million hours of lost physician time or over 400 years of time wasted per annum,” Murgatroyd says. “But in a nutshell what that really means is that we are not providing our physicians with the types of technologies and solutions which we all have benefited from in other areas of our day-to-day life. There is a clear opportunity there.”

Looking at the surgical workflow to identify pinch points, Medtronic began to develop technologies that could assist surgeons and their teams. “We found that standard practice is that surgeons are often having to review the surgery they have just performed, surgery that is often life-changing, by resorting to things like DVDs and USB sticks. This is just crazy in 2024 that surgeons and their teams are faffing about with DVDs to review how they performed a case, a crucial aspect of their job,” says Murgatroyd. “This not only has implications for time wasting but also could mean that they end up not reviewing the case and not using it to train other members of the team.”

Medtronic has now developed a smart computer for the operating theatre that enables secure and easy access to surgical videos and even provides analytics after a case. It even has built-in AI anonymisation capabilities, which can redact or pixelate sensitive parts of an operation to protect patient and staff privacy.

“This gives surgeons, within seconds of finishing a surgery, the ability to review the case on their phones or their computers,” Murgatroyd explains. Medtronic has already deployed this technology in more than 20 countries, including Ireland, with significant success. “We are providing surgeons with their case footage without them having to do anything, it’s what surgeons and their teams deserve.”

The goal is unobtrusive tech that does not pose an additional burden. This will maximise uptake and drive widespread adoption, says Murgatroyd, who notes that they are taking a “consumer-grade approach” to its design. If it’s not simple and doesn’t work within a few taps, surgeons will just stop using the technology because they have been left down historically by software that has not been designed for them. We are actively working to design technology which is seamless and really nice to use.”

Medtronic is trying to move surgery from Blockbuster video shops to a streaming service like Netflix, as he puts it. In the next few months, the organisation will launch Live Stream, which will allow surgeons to securely stream their case anywhere in the world “with just two taps”. This will transform training and education, especially in highly specialised surgery, Murgatroyd says.

“Currently if a surgeon wants to train other surgeons, the surgeon gets on a plane, travels and then scrubs in,” he explains. “This is incredibly inefficient and unnecessary, not to mention costly and time-consuming. The surgeon who has to travel is then not operating on their own patients. Our goal with streaming is to harness that digital technology to virtually bring surgeons into operating rooms and allow surgeons to stream out.”

Surgeons may be crying out for this technology but the willingness of the broader health service to embrace it may be another story – health systems remain wary of using cloud-based systems, Murgatroyd says. And while there is an upfront cost, he believes most health systems recognise the long-term savings it will bring.

“The majority of hospitals recognise that investing in cloud-based technologies will ultimately make things [more affordable], as storing data on a physical server is more expensive.” But the implications go far beyond cost savings. “It’s about finally bringing surgery into the 21st century.”

You can meet George Murgatroyd of Medtronic at the upcoming Future Health Summit on May 29th-30th. See futurehealthsummit.com for details