DEO.care’s Latest Innovation: The Instrument Analyzer

In hospitals worldwide, efficiently managing surgical instrument trays remains a largely unsolved challenge, particularly in optimizing configurations for operating rooms (ORs).

The Instrument Analyzer, a novel component of DEO.care’s digital twin platform, addresses this complex issue.

By leveraging powerful data analytics, it streamlines tray configurations, significantly enhancing efficiency not just in ORs but throughout the hospital ecosystem, including Sterile Processing Departments (SPD) and Central Sterile Supply Departments (CSSD).

Read on for a detailed overview of the challenges, the operational mechanics of the Instrument Analyzer, and its tangible benefits for the healthcare ecosystem, all while supporting the Quadruple Aim.

Inefficiencies Affecting Surgical Instrument Tray Management

Our medical engineers have observed firsthand the inefficiencies affecting surgical instrument tray management. In many hospitals, trays are overstocked with instruments that are rarely used, leading to a significant waste of space, time, budget, and overall resources.

This surplus not only places a physical toll on staff, such as SPD personnel and circulating nurses but also imposes a mental burden on surgeons and scrub nurses who must sift through an abundance of tools.

Moreover, the reliance on manual systems to track surgeon-specific instrument preferences further complicates the workflow, demanding constant mental agility from surgical teams to ensure the right tools are prepared and available for each procedure.

How the Instrument Analyzer Works

First, the hospital staff and surgical team decide the scope of the project, ranging from single-surgeon, and single-procedure to department-wide. The analyzer uses individual surgeon data to create simulations for optimized tray set-ups specific to procedural needs, which supports and incentivizes instrument tray optimization projects department-wide.

Secondly, the process of generating data-driven instrument insights is fast and easy. Anonymized video data is captured and analyzed by using the DEO.care proprietary remote measurement kit.

On average 10 to 20 cases per surgeon and per single surgical procedure type are needed to deliver insights about which instruments are always used, sometimes used, and never used during surgeries.

Fig. 1: Example Key Insight Metrics generated through the Instrument Analyzer

We capture the current tray set-up for specific procedures, including instruments, surgery volume, and current constraints, such as sterilization turnover time – important input to ensure accurate simulations can be made when combined with the recorded data.ta.

Fig 2: DEO.care’s Instrument Analyzer: a Proprietary AI-backed Surgical Instrument Analysis Software

As a last step, multiple simulations can be made for optimized tray (re)configuration. These indicate the number of trays per surgical procedure and instrument layout for each tray, including an associated impact prediction on stock volume, finances (e.g. stock and sterilization expenses), and team ergonomics.

Use Case – Prof. Dr. Corten’s Approach

Understanding his current instrument usage was a crucial step in Prof. dr. Corten’s approach to optimizing his OR.

It is not uncommon, for example, to use 10 instrument trays for a total hip replacement surgery comprising up to 300 individual instruments. Backed by data, he reduced the number of instrument trays from ten to three (per procedure), which reduced the hospital’s sterilization costs, improved his staff’s physical and mental well-being, and sped up the overall surgery process as there is now more standardization in material table preparation and breakdown.

Fig. 3: Prof. Dr. Corten’s Operating Room Before and After Instrument Tray Optimization

Direct Impact, Tangible Benefits

DEO.care’s instrument analyzer helps hospitals and OR staff to:

• Limit tray storage space by storing only what is needed.
• Lower sterilization costs by only sterilizing what is used.
• Reduce time in the OR and increase OR throughput by optimizing preparation time.
• Simplify preparation to reduce mental fatigue.
• Limit carrying loads to lower physical fatigue.
• Align stakeholders and inform decision-making by consolidating trays in a data-driven matter.

Download a sample detailed instrument analysis report for an in-depth view of our impactful solution.