055 - Early Clinical Experience Using a Teleconferencing System to Live-Stream Cases at a Multi-Center Academic Institution
John Moon, MD – Resident Physician, Emory University Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences; Janice Newsome, MD, FSIR – Associate Professor, Emory University Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences; Zachary Bercu, MD, RPVI – Associate Professor, Emory University Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences
Purpose: Traditional surgical amphitheaters are falling by the wayside and the recent COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of virtual interconnectivity within health professional training. While systems to promote procedural education and collaboration through teleconferencing of cases have existed in the healthcare marketplace, these have required large and elaborate setups. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the early experiences of a large multi-site, academic institution with the Avail System, a fully integrated audio/visual hardware and software system used to live stream cases, to attending physicians, radiology trainees, and advanced care providers.
Material and Methods: Eight cases (Genicular Nerve Ablation = 2, Uterine Artery Embolization = 2, Adrenal Vein Sampling = 1, Genicular Artery Embolization = 1, Femoral/Obturator Ablation = 1, Kyphoplasty = 1) were performed and teleconferenced among our institution using the Avail System between October 2021 and August 2022. These cases were viewed by attendings, technologists, biomedical engineers, nurses, and trainees. An online questionnaire was distributed among those who had viewed cases teleconferenced on the Avail System. Participants were asked various questions regarding their overall experience and educational value from watching the case via teleconferencing and rated their experiences on a Likert scale (1-5) with 1 representing strongly disagree and 5 representing strongly agree.
Results: A total of 15 responses were collected. Academic radiologists accounted for 44.4% of responses (4/15). The most commonly watched procedure by respondents was a Genicular Nerve Ablation (40%). Participants viewed the experience of watching the livestream of the case as a positive experience with an average rating of 4.67. Respondents reported having a better understanding of the technique/procedure with an average rating of 4.53. Respondents reported that the opportunity to watch a procedure was incredibly help with a rating of 4.93. Finally, respondents reported that when offered the opportunity in the future, they would prefer to watch a technique/procedure rather than hear or read about it with traditional methods (such as an article or lecture), with an average rating of 4.46.
Conclusions: Teleconferencing and live streaming of cases provides a useful medium for collaboration and education of trainees.