Background: Surgical workflow assessments offer insight regarding procedure variability. We utilised an objective method to evaluate workflow during robotic proctectomy (RP).
Methods: We annotated 31 RPs and used Spearman's correlation to measure the correlation of step time and step visit frequency with console time (CT) and total operative time (TOT).
Results: Strong correlations were seen with CT and step times for inferior mesenteric vein dissection and ligation (ρ = 0.60, ρ = 0.60), lateral-to-medial splenic flexure mobilisation (SFM) (ρ = 0.63), left rectal dissection (ρ = 0.64) and mesorectal division (ρ = 0.71). CT correlated strongly with medial-to-lateral (ρ = 0.75) and supracolic SFM visit frequency (ρ = 0.65). TOT correlated strongly with initial exposure time (ρ = 0.60), and medial-to-lateral (ρ = 0.67) and supracolic SFM visit frequency (ρ = 0.65).
Conclusion: This study correlates surgical steps with CT and TOT through standardised annotation, providing an objective approach to quantify workflow.
Keywords: annotation; objective performance indicator; proctectomy; robotic; surgical workflow.
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