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TAPPING INTO TECHNOLOGY
User Interfaces in the OR
ZAC WIGGY, BA
Health care professionals are increasingly using computers in the OR to view, update, document, and store patient infor
mation, including x-rays and other scans or laboratory results that could affect the course of surgery. Computers also are being used to help the surgical team perform cutting-edge procedures such as robotic-assisted surgeries1 and intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI). The Mayo Clinic, for example, uses iMRI and reports that use of iMRI during tumor removal surgery greatly reduces the risk of damaging other parts of the brain and helps conrm successful removal of the entire tumor.2
Most people are familiar with a traditional mouse and keyboard method of using a computer; however, these computer accessories were not designed specically for use in the OR, and data suggest that pathogens can be transferred to and survive on keyboards.3,4 To address this problem, some health care professionals are turning to alternative computer methods such as tablets5 and smartphones,6 which have touch screens that can be cleaned more readily or which can be used while placed in a sterile plastic bag.5,7 Soon, they may even be able to use hands-free technology, such as Microsofts KinectTM for the Xbox 360 video game system.
During a keynote address at Microsoft TechEd 2011 in Atlanta, GeorgiaMicrosofts annual conference for information technology specialistsMicrosoft Corporate Vice President, Server and Tools Business Robert Wahbe showed a video featuring a surgeon who controlled a computer screen that displayed patient information by using gestures with his hand in the air.8
The demonstration involved a personal computer (PC) that was attached to Microsofts Kinect (Figure 1), a sensor system designed to attach to the companys Xbox 360 video game system. Microsoft wanted to show Kinects potential, but the demonstration raises questions about how health care professionals in the OR will interact with computers in the future.
MICROSOFTS KINECT
Microsoft released the Kinect sensor system in November 2010. It sits above or below a television and consists of a pair of depth sensors to track users in three dimensions, a standard color digital camera, and four microphones.9 When the system is used for playing video games, these sensors track players motions as they jump, duck, and move their arms....