Qualitative Exploration of Anesthesia Providers' Perceptions Regarding Philips Visual Patient Avatar in Clinical...

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Anesthesiology
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Patient monitoring is crucial in anesthesia.
• Traditional methods can be improved with advanced visualization tools.
• The Philips Visual Patient Avatar (VPA) is a user-centered technology for patient monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess anesthesia providers' perceptions of the Philips VPA after its clinical implementation.
• To identify the strengths and limitations of the VPA from a user perspective.
• To gather feedback for potential improvements to the VPA technology.

Main Methods:

• A single-center qualitative study was conducted at the University Hospital of Zurich.
• An online survey was administered to anesthesia providers post-implementation.
• Thematic analysis was used to analyze 163 collected comments.

Main Results:

• Positive themes included good presentation of specific parameters and quick problem identification.
• The most frequent suggestion for improvement was the ability to adjust VPA visualization thresholds.
• Users found the VPA valuable for identifying underlying patient problems.

Conclusions:

• Anesthesia providers perceive the Philips VPA as a valuable tool in clinical practice.
• The VPA enhances the identification of patient issues.
• A key area for development is allowing users to customize visualization thresholds.