
doi: 10.1117/12.653558
A 2003 report in the Journal of Annual Surgery predicted an increase in demand for surgical services to be as high as 14 to 47% in the workload of all surgical fields by 2020. Medical difficulties which are already now apparent in the surgical OR (Operation Room) will be amplified in the near future and it is necessary to address this problem and develop strategies to handle the workload. Workflow issues are central to the efficiency of the OR and in response to today's continuing workforce shortages and escalating costs. Among them include: Inefficient and redundant processes, System Inflexibility, Ergonomic deficiencies, Scattered Data, Lack of Guidelines, Standards, and Organization. The objective of this research is to validate the hypothesis that a workflow model does improve the efficiency and quality of surgical procedure. We chose to study the image-guided surgical workflow for US as a first proof of concept by minimizing the OR workflow issues. We developed, and implemented deformable workflow models using existing and projected future clinical environment data as well as a customized ICT system with seamless integration and real-time availability. An ultrasound (US) image-guided surgical workflow (IG SWF) for a specific surgical procedure, the US IG Liver Biopsy, was researched to find out the inefficient and redundant processes, scattered data in clinical systems, and improve the overall quality of surgical procedures to the patient.
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