Presentation
Coaching Interventions to Enhance Robotic Surgeons Intraoperative Non-Technical Skills
DescriptionDue to the growing advancements in robotic technologies for surgical procedures, surgical teams in operating rooms (OR) are rapidly evolving to meet the intraoperative demands. Technical skills are necessary to ensure patient safety in the OR. However, they are not sufficient. While surgeons are extensively trained in technical skills, non-technical skills (NTS) are not given adequate emphasis. This shows a need for efforts directed towards improving surgeons’ NTS. This research dives into the sensor-based assessment and enhancement of NTS of surgeons performing robotic-assisted surgeries. We aim to enhance robotic surgeons’ NTS through personalized coaching sessions and hypothesize that these coaching sessions will increase robotic surgeons’ NTS.
Surgeons performing robotic-assisted surgeries across different specialties and surgical experiences will be participating in this study. Their surgical procedures will be recorded, and they will also be equipped with Tobii eye-tracking glasses to record their eye behavior. A lapel microphone will also be worn to record their verbal communication. Each surgeon will be observed for several procedures and receive individual personalized coaching sessions between the procedures. The timeline between each observation and coaching phase depends on their surgery schedules. A study coordinator will ensure that no patient identifiers will be recorded from the procedures. Raters will individually watch the videos and assess the surgeons’ performance using the Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS) tool. Qualitative and quantitative results would be used to design the personalized coaching sessions delivered to the surgeons.
Multiple streams of data would be collected from the study including NOTSS ratings, surgeons’ self-assessed NOTSS score, and end of coaching session questionnaire. Appropriate statistical tests will be used to assess any significant differences in NTS pre- and post-coaching. A pilot study with three surgeons was previously conducted to validate the study methodology, especially the coaching phase. Currently, five robotic surgeons (excluding the surgeons from the pilot) have been recruited for this work-in-progress study that explores the effectiveness of sensor-based coaching interventions to improve NTS and subsequently, patient safety.
Surgeons performing robotic-assisted surgeries across different specialties and surgical experiences will be participating in this study. Their surgical procedures will be recorded, and they will also be equipped with Tobii eye-tracking glasses to record their eye behavior. A lapel microphone will also be worn to record their verbal communication. Each surgeon will be observed for several procedures and receive individual personalized coaching sessions between the procedures. The timeline between each observation and coaching phase depends on their surgery schedules. A study coordinator will ensure that no patient identifiers will be recorded from the procedures. Raters will individually watch the videos and assess the surgeons’ performance using the Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS) tool. Qualitative and quantitative results would be used to design the personalized coaching sessions delivered to the surgeons.
Multiple streams of data would be collected from the study including NOTSS ratings, surgeons’ self-assessed NOTSS score, and end of coaching session questionnaire. Appropriate statistical tests will be used to assess any significant differences in NTS pre- and post-coaching. A pilot study with three surgeons was previously conducted to validate the study methodology, especially the coaching phase. Currently, five robotic surgeons (excluding the surgeons from the pilot) have been recruited for this work-in-progress study that explores the effectiveness of sensor-based coaching interventions to improve NTS and subsequently, patient safety.
Event Type
Oral Presentations
TimeWednesday, March 2711:00am - 11:30am CDT
LocationSalon A-4
Simulation and Education