STTR Phase I: Digital management of operating room workflow to promote efficiency, cost savings, and quality

这个小企业技术转移（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是优化外科手术室（OR）团队的工作流程、协调和沟通。最近的技术进步已经允许开发一个简单的解决方案，从根本上改善OR团队成员的工作流程和性能。从历史上看，OR团队依赖于古老的纸质仪器清单和以前的经验来编排复杂的任务，导致由于不协调而损失的时间和浪费。特别是，外科医生和手术室团队最大的两个挫折是没有手术所需的精确工具和设备，以及在手术进行过程中难以跟上进度。研究表明，与这些仪器、设备和意识问题相关的工作流程干扰和中断是导致手术室延误/错误的主要原因，从而导致成本、效率和最重要的手术护理质量问题。通过在手术室环境中引入数字实时工作流程管理工具，该技术将为手术室团队的绩效设定新的基准。拟议中的项目旨在测试和证明数字应用软件的价值，该软件可以在给定手术的每个步骤中显示手术医生的工具、任务和偏好。该软件通过实时指导手术室团队完成手术，提高对病例技术进展的认识，并有效减少因无法使用正确的仪器/设备而导致的可预防的中断、干扰和延误，解决了数十年来手术室团队的挫败感。通过一项前瞻性的多机构研究，该技术将在现场手术过程中进行测试，以生成数据，证明其基于成本节约和效率的价值。最终，这项技术的应用将提高手术质量。使用迭代设计和开发方法，该技术的测试将直接反馈到该产品的其他基本功能和新一代的开发中，从而使OR团队的满意度最大化，并尽可能无缝地适应现有的工作流程。是时候利用现代技术来优化我们的外科团队的表现，从而改善手术室的护理了。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to optimize the workflow, coordination and communication of surgical operating room (OR) teams. Recent technological advances have allowed development of a simple solution to radically improve the workflow and performance of OR team members. Historically, OR teams have relied on archaic paper instrument lists and previous experience to orchestrate complex tasks, resulting in lost time and waste due to non-coordination. In particular, the two biggest frustrations for surgeons and OR teams is not having the precise tools and equipment needed for a surgery and difficulty staying on the same page as a surgery progresses. Research shows workflow distractions and disruptions related to these instruments, equipment, and awareness issues are a major cause for delays/errors in the OR, which lead to problems with costs, efficiency, and most importantly quality of surgical care. By introducing a digital real-time workflow management tool to the OR environment, this technology will set a new benchmark for OR team performance. The proposed project aims to test and prove the value of a digital application software that displays the tools, tasks and preferences specific to the operating surgeon along each step of a given procedure. This software solves decades old frustrations of OR teams by guiding them through a surgery in real time, raising awareness as to the technical progression of the case, and effectively decreasing the preventable disruptions, distractions and delays related to the failure of having the correct instruments/equipment available. Via a prospective multi-institutional study, the technology will be tested during live surgical procedures to generate data proving its value based on cost savings and efficiency. Ultimately, the use of this technology will lead to improved surgical quality. Using an iterative design and development approach, the testing of this technology will directly feed back into the development of additional fundamental features and new generations of this product, such that OR team satisfaction is maximized and it fits as seamlessly as possible into existing workflow. The time has come to harness modern technology to optimize the performance of our surgical teams and thus improve delivery of care in the OR.