Example of da Vinci Robot

The da Vinci robot is a minimally invasive surgical system that can support a number of surgical procedures. The complete system comprises three main parts, the patient cart, the surgeon console, and the vision cart. The patient cart contains the moving arms of the robot, which can have multiple joints moving at any given time as the surgeon controls them via the surgeon console, which is tethered to the system. The surgeon console is a fully immersive system, providing better vision for the surgeon and control of the robotic arms. However, this setup has unintentionally created barriers between the surgeon and the rest of their surgical team, as the team is no longer co-located beside the patient, which has resulted in communication challenges as well as a change in the distribution of tasks. In one example, the surgeon had provided instructions to the scrub nurse, but they were getting frustrated that it wasn't being carried out. However, the nurse had performed the action, but not considered a need for a verbal confirmation that the task had been completed as prior to the presence of the robot this was not required. In this instance a gulf of frustration developed between the two. It has also been noted that with the introduction of the da Vinci robot, scrub nurses are no longer aware of the actions surgeons are carrying out as they control the robot. This causes those situated by the robot to ‘dance’ with the robot to ensure they aren't accidentally struck by a swinging arm. Conducting an ‘in the wild’ evaluation could have highlighted the communication issues that the surgical team now face with the introduction of the robot. Discovering this issue early would have allowed the development team to mitigate or resolve the problem, producing an uninhibited workflow between team members.