Hackensack University Medical Center Joins Intuitive Surgical to Bring AI into the OR

Department of Urology will use data collected by surgical systems to improve outcomes and enhance training

Hackensack University Medical Center Department of Urology surgeons are collaborating with Intuitive Surgical, the company behind the da Vinci robotic surgical system, to explore how objective data collected by robotic surgical systems could be used to improve surgical quality, safety, outcomes and education.

The Intuitive Surgical team developed software called Case Insights that captures and stores surgical video and data on hundreds of objective performance indicators (OPIs). The tool is designed to facilitate performance improvement, predictive analytics, surgeon assessment, self-review and feedback conversations with mentors.

“When we perform robotic surgery, we are essentially putting a very sophisticated computer between us and the patient,” Michael Stifelman, M.D., said. According to Dr. Stifelman, Case Insights is capturing surgical data to address two key needs: providing surgeons with predictive analytics to determine how a patient is going to do after surgery and objective feedback and comparisons to experts that can be used for surgeon assessment and training.

For decades, surgeons have had to rely on basic patient and surgical information, combined with subjective coaching, feedback and opinions from their peers, to help them improve their techniques and patient outcomes. If a procedure didn’t go as planned, surgeons typically had limited insight into what went wrong.

“You might know how long a surgery took, what instruments were used and how much blood a patient lost. You could review the video in an attempt to gain insights, but there was no objective data provided in terms of what the surgeon was actually doing,” Dr. Stifelman said.

Harnessing the robotic data captured during the surgery will give a more complete picture of the patient’s surgical experience and promote a new level of data-informed patient care.

After determining which OPIs are most important, the team also sees tremendous potential for the data as part of surgical education.

“Captured data can be used to provide a personalized report for surgeons and guide them to training resources (such as a da Vinci simulator) which allow them to practice moves and techniques that need improvement. The same data can be used by mentors to deliver personalized coaching to mentees,” Ryan Shaw, senior director of product management for Intuitive Surgical, said. “This is good for the mentor and the mentee because it’s offering personalized, objective feedback based on areas where a trainee needs help.”

The Hackensack University Medical Center Department of Urology will be among the first to have access to Intuitive Surgical’s Case Insights platform—an intentional collaboration initiated due to the department’s long history as an early adopter of advanced surgical innovation.

“We can’t solve problems without inviting in surgical scientists,” Tony Jarc, senior director of digital solutions and machine learning at Intuitive Surgical, said. “Hackensack University Medical Center is an ideal choice for collaboration because of its history with Intuitive, alignment with our mission, expertise in clinical care and research and committed data sciences team.”

Learn more about innovative urological care at Hackensack University Medical Center.