Filling in the Gap between Training and First Case

"When developing technique guides or videos, it is of the utmost importance to understand your audience.  I like to reverse engineer any video that we put into the field.  How and when it will be used is crucial to understand how it should be shot.  Communicating with the administration & OR staff is as important as the surgeon doing the procedure.
 
Preparation:  It is crucial that the OR/Facility Staff understand how and when the Med World Live platform will be used.  OR directors tend to get very concerned about video cameras in the OR.  They need to be sure that that above all else, the patient’s safety and privacy are protected.  I am very methodical about educating the staff and the administration that this is first and foremost an educational tool.  It is used to show others what “good” practices and techniques look like.
 
Execution:  When setting up the OR theater, I ask the OR team to stand where they will be most effective to the patient and set up around them.  If you go in too early and set up the cameras, chances are you will need to move them.  I look for angles that I think will look good within the MWL platform and will be most beneficial to the customers and sales reps.  I focus on a wide shot (capturing the scrub back table), the surgeons hands and fluoroscopic images.  Because I use the platform to educate a wide audience, I try to focus my shots on the pearls of the procedure.  At times, what happens on the back table is what makes a great case go smoothly.  Physicians appreciate OR Team training.
 
Deployment:  When deploying the MWL platform, we launch it as we would any other product.  Our sales teams need to know the value of this educational tool and how it can help them in the field.  We use the MWL platform to pre-train customers so they are better prepared in cadaveric labs.  It allows us to spend less time on the basics and more time on crucial technique pearls.  The platform also works great to fill in the gap between training and the first case, in-servicing OR Teams and educating new sales reps.  Our sales reps will view the techniques prior to cases to ensure they are prepared for various scenarios MIS surgery can present."