The power of data in the operating theatre

Colin Dobbyne CEng MIET examines the IoT technology that could modernise operating theatres from isolated workspaces to being part of an active collaborative support system, or what he refers to as ‘Surgery 4.0’. He explains the technology needed to radically change the way surgery is performed, the potential benefits, and how to remove current barriers.

In the main, we are locked in ‘Surgery 3.0’, which is where we have been for almost 60 years. Surgery started thousands of years ago as a manual intervention, performed in the best light that you could find – this was ‘Surgery 1.0’. This carried on until the late 19th century and the advent of electricity and the light bulb, in particular, transforming surgery and giving rise to the birth of effective endoscopy – which, for the purposes of this article, I will refer to as ‘Surgery 2.0’. The next evolution – Surgery 3.0 – came with the invention of the silicon chip in 1961; electronics rapidly brought significant advances with sophisticated systems – such as anaesthetic machines, electro-surgical units, programmable logic controllers, computing, sensors, endoscopic cameras, lasers and so on. 

In a typical operating theatre, equipment is arranged around the room and a nurse sets up each device as required by the surgeon – very rarely are these machines connected to the network. The floor is often covered in cables and cords, making it easy to trip, pull out an essential plug during surgery or damage the equipment. This is improved upon with an integrated operating theatre, but even those, in their current form, although more ergonomic, only provide a moderate improvement in greater efficiency, better teamwork and reduced stress levels,1 and do not really progress us to the next stage.