Institute for Surgical Excellence’s Collaborative Publishes Consensus Roadmap for Use of AI Methods and Metrics in Robotic Surgery Education in Journal of the American College of Surgeons
Collaborative for Advanced Assessment of Robotic Surgical Skills Generates Consensus on a Bold, Forward-Looking Roadmap for AI Methods and AI-Enabled Metrics for Surgical Education
WASHINGTON – The Institute for Surgical Excellence (ISE), a non-profit organization that convenes a diverse group of international experts to push the bounds of surgical standards and improve patient outcomes, announced the publication of an article titled “Artificial Intelligence Methods and Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Metrics for Surgical Education: A Multidisciplinary Consensus” in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS).
ISE sought to generate consensus guidance on specific needs for AI methods and AI-enabled metrics for surgical education by launching a study that included a systematic literature search, a virtual conference, and a 3-round Delphi survey of 40 representative multidisciplinary stakeholders with domain expertise selected through purposeful sampling.
The Delphi panel came to conclusions that provide consensus on a specific, bold and forward-looking roadmap for AI methods and AI-enabled metrics for surgical education. Specifically, the panel listed six deliverables each for AI-enhanced learning curve analytics and surgical skill assessment. For feedback, the panel identified 10 priority deliverables spanning 2-year, 5-year, and 10-year timeframes. Within two years, the panel expects the development of methods to recognize anatomy in images of the surgical field and to provide surgeons with performance feedback immediately after an operation. The panel also identified five essentials that should be included in operative performance reports for surgeons.
“As we continue to unlock new surgical capabilities to treat patients and develop best practices for robotic surgery, it’s important that everyone has a seat at the table. ISE has convened a group of leading surgeons, engineers, medicals institutions and societies, industry representatives, government regulators, and AI experts to identify opportunities to improve surgical metrics using machine learning and AI,” said Dr. Jeffrey Levy, Co-Founder and Interim Executive Director of ISE. “I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve accomplished and look forward to seeing our plan help to improve surgical training, assessment, and patient outcomes for the next decade and beyond.”
“The consensus panel of experts provided a specific, bold and forward-looking 2-year, 5-year, and 10-year roadmap for AI methods and AI-enabled metrics that can lead to innovations that spur progress in surgical education.” said Dr. Ahmed Ghazi, ISE Board Member.
Authors of the paper include:
Dr. S. Swaroop Vedula, MBBS, MPH, PhD of the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Dr. Ahmed Ghazi, MD, FEBU, MHPE of the Department of Urology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY
Dr. Justin W. Collins, MBChB, MD, FRCS of the Wellcome/ESPRC Center for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS) & Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, Research Department of Targeted Intervention, University College London, London, UK
Dr. Carla Pugh, MD, PhD, FACS of the Department of Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Dr. Dimitrios Stefanidis, MD, PhD, FACS, FASMBS of the Department of Surgery, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN
Dr. Ozanan Meireles, MD of the Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Dr. Andrew J. Hung, MD of the I Center at USC Urology, Department of Urology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Steven Schwaitzberg, MD, FACS of UBMD Surgery, Buffalo, NY
Dr. Jeffrey S. Levy, MD, FACOG of the Institute for Surgical Excellence, Washington DC
Dr. Ajit K. Sachdeva, MD, FACS, FRCSC, FSACME, MAMSE of the Division of Education, American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL
The Abstract is available here.
About the Institute for Surgical Excellence (ISE)
ISE is a 501(c)(3) public charity, whose mission is to create lasting solutions for complex healthcare problems related to emerging technologies, with the ultimate goal to improve patient care and outcomes. ISE utilizes a systems-based approach (collective impact model) to bring together key stakeholders from a variety of sectors to identify issues, set clearly defined goals, facilitate collaboration, determine and fill gaps, and better inform health care consumers. ISE is embarking on a series of transformational projects with respect to the role and standards of surgical technologies, with the first and current focus on Robotic Surgery. As part of this project, ISE continues to manage and develop the Robotic Training Network (RTN) through participation with hospitals across the country, and research-focused engagement with the Fundamentals of Robotics Surgery (FRS).
About the Collaborative for Advanced Assessment of Robotic Surgical Skills (CAARSS)
CAARSS is a group of research institutions convened by ISE and dedicated to creating reliable, accurate, practical, and automated tools for assessing surgical skills using AI and other advanced technologies. Its members are highly regarded medical professionals at Stanford University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Southern California, the University of Buffalo, the University of Rochester, Indiana University, and the University College of London. Each of the 8 research groups will complete robotic surgical tasks using the Fundamentals of Robotics Surgery Dome, allowing for direct comparisons and data analysis from each group’s multi-modal sensors. This research will help determine how to improve surgical skills and outcomes by combining two or more of these AI technologies.
