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Correspondence to Lauren Kolodzey, Surgical Education and Innovation Research Group, St. Michael's Hospital—Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, 883.21, 209 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON M5B 1T8, Canada; [email protected]
Introduction
Over the past decade, the landscape of consumer electronics has experienced a dramatic evolution culminating in the emergence of wearable technology. Typically referring to electronic devices with sensing and computational capabilities that are worn by or attached to the body,1 wearable technology has the potential to be a disruptive force in healthcare, particularly in surgery. With the hands-free form factor of devices enabling telecommunication and point-of-view video recording in the operative environment with minimal hindrance to user activity, the introduction of wearable technology in surgery may have a tremendous transformative impact on surgical education, intraoperative documentation and direct patient care.2–4
While interest among medical professionals surrounding consumer wearable devices has precipitated widespread discussion of potential applications in surgery, evidence to support their utility in this context is often anecdotal.5 As wearable technology becomes increasingly pervasive, it is essential that decisions regarding their integration into clinical practice be based on critical analyses of empirical evidence rather than novelty.
In this systematic review, our objective was to present an overview of the available literature regarding the use of wearable devices in surgery, both in clinical and simulated settings, as well as to objectively discuss factors affecting their integration into standard clinical practice.
Methods
This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Electronic searches were performed across the MEDLINE and Web of Science databases from inception through 15 January 2016.
For the purpose of this review, wearable technology was broadly defined as any device that is worn by or attached to the body and is capable of providing the user with usable data. The systematic search strategy was developed by two authors (PDG and TPG) according to this definition and was executed with the assistance of a research librarian at the Health Sciences Library of St. Michael's Hospital. The following free-text search terms were used: ‘wearable technology’, ‘surgery’,‘surgeon’, ‘telemedicine’, ‘augmented reality’, ‘head-up display’, ‘head-mounted display’, ‘Google Glass’, ‘GoPro’, ‘smartglasses’, ‘smartgoggles’, ‘wearable computing’, ‘surgical procedures’ and ‘operative’, combined so as to capture papers featuring both specific and...