Understanding the technology
About This Technology.
The Live Surgery Facility is a camera and audio-video link in the operating room that lets doctors and health professionals in another room follow an operation for education and discussion. For patients, the ethical principles are clear: a broadcast requires your consent, your identity is protected, and your safety comes before the broadcast.
What Is the Live Surgery Facility?
The Live Surgery Facility is a system in the operating room that connects an operation to another room through cameras and an audio-video link. Doctors, nurses, and health professionals who are not in the operating room can follow the steps of the operation and discuss them with the team at work. The facility supports education and collaboration among health professionals. It is not part of treatment and does not change how the operation is performed.
What the Facility Is Used For
- Education and training of doctors and nurses in heart surgery techniques
- Case discussions between surgeons, cardiologists, and anesthesiologists
- Medical scientific activities that require a demonstration of surgical steps
Patient Privacy and Consent
Under the principles of medical ethics, an operation may be broadcast only after the patient has received an explanation and given written consent, separate from consent for the operation. The explanation covers the purpose of the broadcast, who will watch, and whether it will be recorded. You have the right to decline, and declining does not affect the care you receive.
The patient's identity must also be protected. The camera is aimed at the surgical field, while the face, name, and medical record details are not shown to viewers.
Safety Comes First
A broadcast operation follows the same plan as any other operation. The type of surgery is based on your medical needs, not on the broadcast, and it is performed by the team caring for you. During surgery, the team's focus remains on the patient, and the broadcast can be stopped at any time if the situation needs the team's full attention. Preparation, anesthesia, and monitoring in the cardiovascular ICU afterward are the same as for other patients.
If You Are Asked
If the team asks whether your operation may be broadcast for education, you can ask who the viewers will be, whether there will be a recording and how long it will be kept, how your identity will be protected, and which surgeon will operate. The decision is entirely yours and can be discussed with your family beforehand.
Clinical use
Uses and Benefits.
Whether this technology suits your condition is decided by a doctor after an evaluation.
- Education of doctors and nurses in heart surgery techniques
- Case discussions between the surgical, cardiology, and anesthesia teams
- Training health professionals without adding people to the operating room
- Medical scientific activities that require a demonstration of surgical steps
Benefits for the Doctor's Assessment
Learning Without Adding People to the Operating Room
Participants follow the operation from another room, so the number of people in the operating room stays limited and sterile conditions are easier to maintain.
Patient Consent as a Requirement
Ethically, a broadcast requires the patient's consent after a full explanation. Patients who decline receive the same care.
Patient Identity Protected
In line with medical confidentiality, the camera is aimed at the surgical field, not at the patient's face or personal data.
The Surgical Plan Does Not Change
The type and steps of surgery are based on the patient's medical needs. The broadcast can be stopped at any time if the team needs to give its full attention.
Brief Technical Information
- Facility type
- Audio-video broadcast system from the operating room
- Purpose
- Education and discussion among health professionals
- Service location
- Operating Theatre, Advanced Cardiovascular Surgical Care
- Patient consent
- Required before any broadcast, in line with medical ethics
