Initial Experience of Using First-Person Wearable Video Recording Technology During Central Venous Catheter Placement in the Cardiac Operating Room

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to use wearable video-recording technology to measure precisely the timing of discrete events during perioperative central venous catheter (CVC) placements.

Design: A single-center, observational, exploratory study on the use of wearable video-recording technology during intraoperative CVC placement.

Setting: The study was conducted at a University Hospital.

Participants: Clinical anesthesia residents, cardiothoracic anesthesia fellows, and attending anesthesiologists participated in this study.

Interventions: Participants were asked to use eye-tracking glasses prior to the placement of a CVC in the cardiac operating rooms. No other instruction was given to the participants.

Measurements and main results: The authors measured the total time to complete the CVC placement, phase-specific time, and specific times of interest. They compared these times across 3 training levels and tested differences with analysis of variance. The authors' findings indicated significant differences in total CVC placement time when the procedure included a pulmonary artery catheter insertion (1,170 ± 364, 923 ± 272, and 596 ± 226 seconds; F_2,63 = 12.71, p < 0.0001). Additionally, they found differences in interval times and times of interest. The authors observed a reduction of variability with increasing experience during the CVC placement phase.

Conclusions: In this observational study, the study authors describe their experience using first-person wearable video-recording technology to precisely measure the timing of discrete events during CVC placement by anesthesia residents and anesthesiologists. Future work will leverage the eye-tracking capabilities of the existing hardware to identify areas of inefficiency to develop actionable targets for interventions that could improve trainee performance and patient safety.