Operating room technology is changing at a rapid pace. For many hospitals, keeping up with this change is hard, and even more drastic developments can be expected in the next decade. Yet, the groundwork for these changes is being laid today. By adopting an OR-over-IP approach, hospitals will be able to implement many of the upcoming technologies that will shape the complex OR environment of the future more easily.
Many years ago, adding a new technology or imaging modality in the operating room meant connecting devices like endoscopy cameras, computers, scanners and surgical displays through dedicated AV equipment. Today, operating rooms are becoming high-tech hubs, allowing multiple devices and imaging systems to be connected over a standard IP network.
With this so-called OR-over-IP approach, surgical data, images and video can be easily shared, stored and displayed on any screen inside or outside the operating room. Integration over IP also makes it possible to centrally manage the multitude of imaging systems and devices and to make the OR workflow much more streamlined.
The digital operating room is no longer a ‘nice to have’. In fact, the OR-over-IP approach will be the necessary foundation for the adoption of many innovative technologies, some of which have already reached the OR today, and some of which will probably enter the OR on a larger scale in the future.
In the past decade, many companies and organizations ramped up their digital efforts in order to overhaul their business processes and improve customer experience. The same can be said of the OR. Just like in the business world, the OR is not becoming digital for digitization’s sake, but rather to reduce complexity, simplify workflows, and increase efficiency and productivity.
In that sense, the OR-over-IP approach is already bearing fruit today for a growng number of professionals and patients worldwide.
Technology continuously evolves and therefore, the OR needs to be easily adaptable to meet future requirements. IP-based video integration supports this expansion of technologies well into the future.
But the OR-over-IP already bears fruit today as well. In an environment where the patient’s stakes are so high and where every minute means money, digital technology helps improve the productivity and efficiency of today’s OR professionals.
The OR of today and of the future is one where conditions are created that allow surgeons to do their best work.
