Immersive Holographic Virtual Reality Operating Room Launched

You’re in the OR, but not really…such is the magic of holographic technology. And Stryker Endoscopy is using it to a maximum degree. The company recently held the grand opening of its state-of-the-art Customer Experience Center in San Jose, California.

Andy Pierce, president, Stryker’s Endoscopy division, told OTW, “With Stryker’s Endoscopy division’s Operating Room (OR) of the Future, the tremendous value for hospital customers is in the ability to visualize OR design and collaborate in ways they’ve never been able to before. Holographic technology allows our customers to virtually ‘stand’ inside of the operating room they are eventually going to build.”

“Stryker’s Endoscopy division has led the advancement of minimally invasive surgery visualization since 1982, and we continue to dominate through generations of excellence.”

“It was important to us that if we were going to invest in this space, we wanted to not only highlight the Endoscopy business unit and our visualization platform, but to also provide our customers with a way to experience the Stryker Connected Hospital in its entirety.”

“It conveys Stryker’s touchpoints outside of the OR that follow the surgeon and patient throughout their entire treatment cycle. It reflects Stryker’s brand as a unified cross-divisional culture that takes us beyond products, allowing us to truly partner with our customers on solutions in healthcare.”

According to Pierce, the project is:

• The Operating Room of the Future, which allows customers to envision how Stryker’s surgical equipment and displays will function in their ORs by bringing design to life through Microsoft HoloLens, the first self-contained holographic computer
• A MultiTaction Media Wall, which provides advanced visualization and touch screen technologies to collaborate and engage customers and facilitate the design process
• The Homer Stryker Innovation Hall featuring a wide variety of Stryker product innovations, such as the Mako Robotic-Arm Assisted Surgery System
• The Connected OR Operating System, which integrates device control and the routing, capture, and streaming of patient data into one system, introducing a new way to communicate with surgeons, OR staff, and patient families
• The William Chang Solutions Workshop, a ‘top-secret’ space containing prototypes of future products, named for Stryker’s Chief Technology Officer
• A History Wall illustrating more than 75 years of Stryker’s innovation in medical technology

“With the OR of the Future, the value for surgeons is the ability to have doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators visualize design and collaborate in ways that they’ve never been able to before. They’re able to see everything in a life-sized view and make sure they end up with a customized, seamlessly integrated operating room that is completely focused around patient safety and surgical efficiency. The technology allows room design to be tailored to each surgeon’s preference in terms of placement and configuration of equipment, lighting, and display systems.”

Asked how it optimizes layout, Pierce commented to OTW, “The OR of the Future allows customers to envision how Stryker’s surgical equipment and displays will function in their operating rooms by bringing design to life through holographic technology. Surgeons, nurses, and hospital administrators can use hand gestures to move, turn, and manipulate equipment around the virtual OR, optimizing the layout to allow physicians and OR personnel to do their jobs efficiently, while enhancing the patient experience.”