Video

Over the years in the OR, I've had the misfortune to be part of several broadcast surgeries. Often connected to conferences, live feeds, lights, cameras, extra people, tetchy surgeons. In recent years, a few nerve implants for prostheses, streamed for research, involve far fewer guests, as the cameras are built into the lights, into the system. Still, people underfoot, adding complexity and the certainty of some error, largely correctable.

Today, a guy who videos his athletic feats, and makes a living from his web presence, has convinced the surgeon to wear a head camera - gopros, and has another in his hand, another on time-lapse he asks me to place. Yeah, I admit, I'm a tad envious of his three gopros. I think we all are. He goes so far as to get a spinal anesthesia and no sedation at all, so he can stay alert, and we are certainly capable of accommodating this request. Most of us who work in surgery completely get the idea of being awake and remembering, but numb to the procedure.

So, we get everything working, do what we do, and the cameras occasionally beep, which we make sure are the cameras and not alarms for some other bit of equipment. He's pleasant and cooperative throughout, tolerates everything with remarkable calm. Not really wanting to be on his video, but I'm largely not identifiable with mask and hat. All in all, these small cameras are a much less intrusive way to record in the OR.

Some aspects of the lack of privacy online bother me, but I like that secrecy is less secure. Light in the dark corners. People do act more ethically when they know they are being watched. We are social creatures, we need checks and balances. The idea of privacy is a shaky one in small towns, or large families. Maybe losing it has the potential for some good. As well as harm. As a very private person myself, I have wildly mixed feelings. This incursion into my work is uncomfortable, but not a bad thing. Manageable.

I suppose I should also describe how video works in my job. All scopes are routed to screens so that the surgeon can see inside the knee/shoulder/hip/wrist/ankle joint. Images can be captured, as well as video. For open cases, the spotlight has a camera as well, and pictures and video can be taken. Part of this is teaching, part research, documentation, explaining later to a patient what the problem was and what was done. I can route one screen from the arthroscope, another from the inlight cam, or the microscope. The screen can be turned so the patient can watch, and if appropriate for them to be awake, they often do. Makes the job more involving, since so often, the only one who could ever really see was the surgeon. Even being scrubbed in, seeing what is happening is difficult and intermittent at best. These cameras help.


But then, like life when done properly, much of surgery is very dull. A process of dissection, careful, like cleaning an ancient painting, or posing claymation figures. Best seen as a time lapse. A full recording of a whole surgery at normal speed, would be incredibly tedious.