Long Island Hospital Deploys 'Black Box' Technology In OR

NEW HYDE PARK, NY — Northwell Health has started using black box technology in its operating rooms, the first U.S. health system to use this technology. Much like flight data recorders used in aviation, the OR Black Box captures video and audio of the operative procedure, along with physiological data from the patient and the anesthesia monitor.

“I think it is very innovative for Northwell to be the first health system in the United States to use this technology,” said Mark Jarrett, MD senior vice president and chief quality officer at Northwell Health. “The OR is the one place that nobody has ever really studied well. Yet, we know that surgical cases can be very complex and risky. The OR Black Boxes enables surgical teams to learn, minimize risk and improve care. It is a proactive approach to improving safety and replicating favorable practices."

Data is captured using various sensors that are placed throughout the OR. The data then gets synchronized and reconstructed for quality care review and improvement. The OR Black Box does not capture any personal health information about the patient or images. The initiative is confidential and non-punitive.

"The OR Black Boxes enables surgical teams to learn, minimize risk and improve care. It is a proactive approach to improving safety and replicating favorable practices. The data collected is all secure, and the names of the patients, surgeons and all the individual cases are not identified, so everybody’s privacy is protected," Jarrett said.

Currently, the healthcare system is piloting the technology in procedures conducted by laparoscopic urologic and colon surgical teams at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park. Louis Kavoussi, MD, chair of urology at Northwell Health, was the first surgeon to use the OR Black Box.

“I think this technology is important because it begins to dissect out potential issues that can adversely affect patient outcomes in the operating room -- and the operating room itself has been a black box,” Dr. Kavoussi said.

OR Black Black Box® technology was created by the Canada-based firm Surgical Safety Technologies in 2014. Surgeons there and in Europe have been using it over the past five years.

Read more about the technology here.