Work Flow

Introduction to Research Area 4

Efficient processes for diagnosis and therapy need a "closed loop" between information from the operation area and action. This more and more requires also new methods and technology to display such information in a comprehensive manner, to generate appropriate and context specific information for the surgeon, and finally to support initiation of action. Proper integration of such a new technology into (existing) surgical work-flow as well as training and permanent skill assessment contribute to the overall success and are also complementing the research activities in the ACMIT Research Area 4 "Simulation, Work-Flow and Usability Analysis".

Research Area 4 thus addresses the aforementioned problems by investigating the three corner stones of safety and efficiency:

  • Procedure > Work-Flow Analysis
  • Human - Machine/Tool Interaction > Usability
  • Simulation and Training

Work-Flow Analysis and Usability: One major aspect for successful introduction of new technology to the medical/surgical field is integrating such systems into (usually) already existing procedures as well as intuitive use of new technology. History shows that technical features and the pure "functioning" of a system alone do not guarantee successful application if other issues - like the ones mentioned above - are not fulfilled appropriately. Closely connected to the latter topic is the one of usability analysis, which consequently also is part of the research activities in this research area.

In the area of Simulation and Training  research in ACMIT will investigate the use of simulation methods in three directions:

(1) Simulation environment for development and evaluation of new technology: New concepts and systems can be improved by means of simulation test-beds in shorter cycles and without (or at least with decreased) need of costly cadaver and/or animal trials. Reproducibility of test scenarios and permanent data logging will allow comparison between different alternatives. Such a use of simulation for tool development also can be extended towards an evaluation environment for benchmarking of different systems. One particular aspect includes the use of such arrangements for usability evaluation, which especially profits from the possibility to execute trials in reproducible manner. This research field also includes the development of dedicated medical phantoms in order to define suitable use scenarios under realistic conditions.

(2) Pre-operative planning and evaluation of procedures: In this context simulation can be used to verify and train a pre-operatively planned procedure with a patient specific simulator setup. The main problem in this field is to use patient-specific data in order to parameterize the simulation model accordingly. The aim of these activities is a "hands-on" evaluation of a pre-op surgical plan and the investigation of specific (exceptional) situations and alternatives. This kind of "surgical flight simulator" contributes to improved preparation of the physician and finally can increase overall safety of surgical procedures.

(3) Simulation for education, training and skill assessment: Using surgical simulators for education and training brings a couple of advantages since it reduces the need for training on animals, isolated specimen, cadavers, or even "real patients".

Research Area 4 will in particular use the many cross-relations between instrument development, robotics, interfaces and simulation. Common aspects include mechanical interfaces which transfer physician's activities via instrument/tool to the patient and vice versa, visual interfaces which monitor the progression of the procedure and software applications through which the physician interacts.

Contact person: For any question about the work in ACMIT Research Area 4 please contact the responsible area manager, Tamás Haidegger, Ph.D.

ACMIT Competence

The research group at ACMIT center has rich experience in work-flow and usability issues from the field of assistive devices which will be "translated" for the use in the context of medical technology. Particular competences of the research group include:

  • Hardware/Software development
  • Sensor development
  • Prototyping (rapid prototyping, interface mock-ups, functional prototypes)
  • User interface design
  • Biomedical engineering
  • Quality management and risk analysis