Capturing intra-operative safety information using surgical wikis
Michael Edwards1, Riaz Agha, Jane Coughlan
1Department of Surgery, Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, UK. michael@wikisurgery.com
Informatics for Health & Social Care
|January 18, 2013
Summary
Surgical wikis can capture extensive intra-operative details for complex procedures like abdominal aortic aneurysm grafting. This knowledge sharing platform enhances trainee learning and optimizes operating time for safer surgical outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Medical Informatics
- Surgical Education
- Digital Health
Background:
- Expert surgeons rely on comprehensive intra-operative data for safe procedures.
- Reduced operating room time for trainees limits traditional knowledge acquisition.
- Wikis present an underexplored method for capturing and sharing surgical expertise.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the potential of surgical wikis in knowledge dissemination.
- To assess the feasibility of capturing detailed intra-operative information for trainee education.
- To explore wiki utility in enhancing surgical safety.
Main Methods:
- A surgical wiki was developed to document abdominal aortic aneurysm grafting procedures.
- Operative details were structured as a script and analyzed for safety information.
- Content analysis classified types of safety information within the wiki script.
Main Results:
- The wiki script contained 2,743 essential intra-operative surgical information items.
- 155 (5.7%) items were identified as specific intra-operative safety checks.
- Analysis covered best-case, worse-case, and rare scenarios, detailing numerous safety checks.
Conclusions:
- Surgical wikis are highly relevant for knowledge sharing in surgical practice.
- Wikis can optimize trainee operating time by providing detailed procedural information.
- A significant volume of critical information for safe major operations can be effectively captured via wikis.
