Digital standardization in liver surgery through a surgical workflow management system: A pilot randomized controlled...

Area of Science:

• Surgical Workflow Management
• Medical Process Modeling
• Hepatobiliary Surgery

Background:

• Surgical process models (SPM) offer a method to simplify and visualize surgical operations.
• Surgical workflow management systems (SWMS) can enhance communication and streamline surgical processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of SPMs visualized by SWMS in reducing deviations in open liver resections.
• To assess the impact of SWMS on the stress levels of surgical teams.

Main Methods:

• A 1:1 randomized controlled trial was conducted.
• A six-step SPM was defined for open liver resections.
• Primary outcome was deviation between planned and actual surgery duration; secondary outcomes included team stress levels.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in deviation was found between the SWMS intervention group and the control group.
• Surgical workflow management systems did not significantly affect the stress levels of the operating team.
• Analysis of operation step durations revealed three distinct phases: Start, Main, and End.

Conclusions:

• The novel SPM for open liver resections, visualized by SWMS, did not lead to a significant reduction in deviations from planned surgery time.
• SWMS did not influence the stress levels experienced by the surgical team during open liver resections.