Our expert answers 3 Questions
I am thinking about innovative ways to improve quality in surgery. Our team is developing methods for large-scale implementation of video-based coaching to improve technical skill in practicing surgeons. Using similar techniques, we are also developing methods to use video-based analysis of surgical technique to make the diffusion of new procedures safer.
Most existing efforts to improve surgical care focus on optimizing perioperative care, such as ensuring patients receive appropriate prophylaxis to prevent wound infections and blood clots after surgery. These efforts, which have led to only modest improvements in outcomes, completely ignore what happens in the operating room. It is very interesting to open this “black box” and work towards improving technique and skill.
For procedural specialties, optimizing the details of how (i.e., technique) and how well (i.e., surgical skill) a procedure is performed could yield large improvements in patient outcomes.