Controlling Anesthesia Hardware With Simple Hand Gestures: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Anesthesiology

Background:

• Consumer electronics utilize gesture and voice commands, unlike traditional anesthesia devices with physical controls.
• Noncontact gesture interfaces in anesthesia may enhance patient safety through intuitive control and reduced contamination.
• Retrofitting a GE Solar 8000M patient monitor with a novel gesture-based controller presented technical challenges due to proprietary systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate a novel gesture-based controller for a patient monitor.
• To assess anesthesiologists' usability and acceptance of a contactless gesture interface.
• To determine if gesture control can simplify and improve interaction with anesthesia equipment.

Main Methods:

• A gesture-based interface system was developed using a millimeter-wave radar sensor to control a Solar 8000M patient monitor.
• The system detected noncontact "rotate" and "press" gestures, controlling the monitor via a virtual trim knob.
• Fifty anesthesiologists evaluated the prototype's usability in a non-clinical setting via a questionnaire with modified Likert scales.

Main Results:

• The gesture-based interface reliably controlled anesthesia hardware using "press" and "rotate" gestures.
• Anesthesiologists generally received the interface well, rating it 8.09/10.
• "Press" gestures were preferred over "rotate" gestures (8.45 vs. 7.73, P = .005), with strong correlation between individual gesture preferences.
• No correlation was found between gesture preference and anesthesiologist experience level.

Conclusions:

• Gesture sensing for anesthesia equipment control was well-received by anesthesiologists.
• While "press" gestures were preferred, overall acceptance of gestures was significant.
• Gesture sensing shows promise for simplifying and enhancing anesthesiologist interaction with anesthesia workstations.