One of the world’s most technologically advanced children’s hospitals, Alder Hey has partnered with Sony to build a powerful hospital-wide IP video network. High Definition surgical footage can be patched instantly to screens in thirteen integrated Operating Rooms – or shared with surgeons and students anywhere on campus. Medical students can see every detail of intricate surgical procedures in real time.
Background
Alder Hey in the Park is one of the world’s newest and most innovative teaching hospitals dedicated to the treatment and care of children. Located in the North West of England the £300m facility takes care of 275,000 young people and their families every year.
Europe’s only hospital in a park has 270 beds, together with sixteen spacious digitally networked Operating Rooms.
Working closely with Sony’s Healthcare Solutions team, Alder Hey in the Park continues to develop and refine innovative networked imaging solution that play a key role in the efficiency of medical teaching, today and tomorrow.
The Challenge
Our challenge in clinical teaching – and in paediatric medicine generally – is creating a proper record of what actually happened in the Operating Room, with a high quality image that’s easy to store, share and retrieve.
Dr Iain Hennessey, Clinical Director of Innovation at Alder Hey in the Park.
As a leading teaching hospital, Alder Hey in the Park is a focal point for specialist knowledge and pioneering techniques developed especially for the treatment and care of children and young people.
Traditionally, the teaching of each new generation of medical students has required ‘live’ demonstration of surgical techniques on an actual patient in the Operating Room. But this approach poses some significant problems, explains Dr Iain Hennessey, Clinical Director of Innovation at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
“If you’re standing around in the OR you can’t really see an awful lot of what’s happening. Sometimes our students get bold and try to edge closer – but not many surgeons like having somebody breathing down the back of their neck. You’ve also got the additional risk of infection with all those extra bodies in the room. It adds a whole extra dimension of uncertainly and risk to what you’re doing.”
As Dr Hennessey notes, traditional teaching of surgery is also less than inefficient from a resource management point of view:
“It’s frustrating and inflexible having to hang around, wait for an operative slot and go to theatre to watch that procedure live. And once you’re in theatre, there’s not a lot actually happening that’s directly relevant to the student for much of that time. Really you just want to capture the highlights of a three hour operation and edit them together. Then by displaying them in a high-resolution format you can save two hours of that student’s time.”
The Solution
In each of thirteen state-of-the-art Operating Rooms at Alder Hey are two ceiling-mounted LMD-2760MD 27” LCD medical monitors, offering students and surgical staff a clear view of live video streamed from endoscopic cameras, operating light mounted camera or other imaging devices in the OR.
Developed specifically for clinical applications, the LMD-2760MD features a Full HD resolution OptiContrast Panel™ that displays bright, detail-packed images from connected medical modalities with exceptional contrast and colour accuracy. Flexible operation is enhanced with a choice of picture modes, while the monitor’s intuitive ‘guided’ user interface assists simple fingertip operation. Digital interfaces simplify connection with a wide range of High Definition and Standard Definition imaging sources.
Additionally, a 43” BRAVIA Professional Display in each OR lets students see visual information from a wide range of sources. These include ceiling-mounted SRG-300SE PTZ remote cameras that capture an overview of the entire operating procedure with Full HD quality.
The Result
Sony’s ground-breaking networked video solution has transformed the efficiency of clinical teaching at Alder Hey. Streaming live HD video to the screens in each OR lets students view fine details of intricate operating procedures in close-up, without intruding on the surgeon’s personal space.
All video sources inside the OR can be shared across the hospital’s network to all other ORs via a networked video management system offered by third-party vendor Nucleus. Working with Sony, Alder Hey is currently exploring the possibilities of streaming live HD video from the OR to students sitting in lecture theatres and teaching rooms.
Why Sony?
“Having the Sony screens in theatre has changed the way I teach”, confirms Dr Simon Kenny, Clinical Director of Surgery at Alder Hey in the Park. “Now I don’t have to stand over someone’s shoulder, causing an extra infection risk. I can sit in the corner of the room, looking at a High Definition image on the screen. I get a better view of what’s happening, and I’m able to direct better.
As Simon notes, streaming live video from the OR also offers the hospital the exciting potential to build up a digital archive.
Having the screens in theatre has changed the way I teach…now I don’t have to stand over someone’s shoulder, causing an extra infection risk. I can look at a High Definition image on the screen. I get a better view of what’s happening, and I’m able to direct better.
Dr Simon Kenny, Clinical Director of Surgery at Alder Hey in the Park
“Once we’ve captured the images, recording them gives us the chance to go back and review. It brings cases to life far more than still images can. Now we have the power to create an encyclopaedia of surgery in all its forms that’s available to students and other surgeons. And that’s crucial for us when we have a duty to deliver high-quality outcomes, today and in the future.”
“Capturing live video from surgery and putting it up on the Sony screens is hugely beneficial for teaching, where normally you have students hanging around at the side of the OR”, confirms Iain Hennessey, Clinical Director of Innovation at Alder Hey in the Park.
“Our challenge in clinical teaching – and in paediatric medicine generally – is creating a proper record of what actually happened in the Operating Room, with a high quality image that’s easy to store, share and retrieve. It’s all very well reading about a football match or hearing about it from someone else. But whether you’re a student or another surgeon you really want to actually see it.”
