My Approach
The complexity of the operating theater demands tools that are intuitive, reliable, and responsive. From the onset, I prioritized understanding the surgical team’s workflows through user interviews and feasibility studies. This helped me identify pain points and opportunities to craft solutions that genuinely align with their needs. Collaboration was at the heart of the process, working alongside front-end and back-end developers to ensure seamless integration between hardware and software.
Vision and Innovation
This project aimed to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and the real-world needs of surgeons and nurses. By leveraging a multi-camera setup and a robust backend, I envisioned a product that not only simplifies pre- and post-surgery tasks but also enhances educational opportunities through synchronized video playback and metadata tagging.
Identifying Unique Challenges
The most significant challenge was designing an interface for two distinct user groups—nurses managing the cameras during surgery and surgeons reviewing recordings post-operation. Each group had unique goals and constraints. For example, nurses required a straightforward UI to reduce cognitive load in high-pressure environments, while surgeons needed advanced playback and metadata tools to support education and archival purposes.
Another challenge was the offline network setup, which restricted traditional cloud-based solutions. Ensuring seamless communication between devices while maintaining GDPR compliance was non-negotiable.
Resolving Complex Problems
To address these challenges:
Simplified Recorder Interface: I designed a dual-mode interface for nurses: a preparation mode for pre-surgery setup and a surgery mode with only essential controls to minimize distractions.
Robust Metadata System: Collaborated with stakeholders to define metadata fields that could streamline search, playback, and educational use.
Synchronization and Stream Management: Worked closely with developers to implement time-synced playback across seven video streams, allowing surgeons to seamlessly switch perspectives.
Scalable Backend Design: Contributed to the design of a backend architecture capable of handling large video files, transcoding, and syncing across devices, ensuring future scalability.
User-Centric Design
User feedback drove every iteration. Nurses highlighted the importance of reducing screen clutter, leading to a minimalist, task-focused UI for the Recorder. Surgeons emphasized the need for detailed playback tools, resulting in a Viewer interface with advanced search and bookmarking capabilities. Both groups appreciated the web-based applications that could be accessed on existing networked devices, eliminating the need for additional hardware.
Meeting User Needs
The final product successfully catered to the needs of the surgical team:
Nurses gained a streamlined tool to manage camera recordings without interrupting their workflow.
Surgeons could review, annotate, and share synchronized videos for education and case analysis.
The product also laid the groundwork for future iterations, such as adding timestamps and customizable playback features, ensuring long-term value.
Conclusion
This project exemplified how technology can empower healthcare professionals when paired with thoughtful, user-centered design. By balancing innovation with simplicity, we delivered a solution that not only supported the surgical team’s immediate needs but also paved the way for advancements in medical education. The Surgeons Perspective project reinforced my belief in the power of collaboration and the importance of designing tools that enhance, rather than complicate, the lives of users.
