Inspired by the black boxes used in aircrafts, the OR Black Box® collects extensive real-time data from surgeries, including sounds, staff interactions, temperature, noise levels, interruptions, and other activities in the operating room. Together with international experts, researchers at Rigshospitalet are testing whether this technology can enhance patient safety, optimize workflows, and minimize disruptions during surgery.
The project, which started in 2020, is led by a team from the Juliane Marie Centre, and the first OR Black Box® has been installed in a gynecological-obstetric operating room at Rigshospitalet. The idea behind the project is to make surgery safer by gathering large amounts of data, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of potential links between surgical procedures and patient outcomes.
A New Approach to Patient Safety in the Operating Room
The OR Black Box® makes it possible to see the whole picture of the surgical process rather than just its separate parts. This enables the analysis of events and correlations – for example, between interrup-tions, distractions, and complications.
The operating room is a complex, high-risk environment where as many as 40–55% of medical com-plications occur, and where disruptions can happen every 40 seconds. The OR Black Box® enables researchers to map these factors, identify potential causes of errors, and work towards reducing the risk of recurrence. The objective is not to focus on human error, but to address the organizational fac-tors that can be adjusted and improved.
All recordings are anonymized, encrypted, and deleted after 30 days, and both patients and staff par-ticipate only after giving informed consent.
International Collaboration and Future Perspectives
The project has been developed in collaboration with St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Air Canada, and the University of Toronto. Rigshospitalet is also part of an international network that includes hospitals in the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States. The collected data will form the basis for developing algorithms that can support surgeons in decision-making and ensure the quality of future surgeries.
Researchers expect to analyze data from approximately 300 operations per year, with the long-term goal of expanding the concept to other surgical specialties and high-risk areas within the hospital sys-tem. The project has been approved by the National Committee on Health Research Ethics and Vi-denscenter for Datasikkerhed (knowledge centre for data security).