‘Black Box’ Enhances Surgical Safety

All commercial aircraft carry a flight data recorder, known colloquially as a “black box,” which aggregates huge amounts of invaluable data about each flight that ultimately are used to improve systems, processes, and passenger safety.

At Duke Health, patient safety is paramount. Christopher Mantyh, MD, professor of surgery and chief quality officer for Duke University Medical Center, is pioneering an innovative system that does much the same as a flight data recorder, but in the operating room.

 The OR Black Box system, developed by Surgical Safety Technologies, Inc., records virtually everything that happens from beginning to end during surgical procedures: the actions performed by the surgical team, conditions in the OR, the patient’s vital signs as the surgery proceeds, how long each step takes, which instruments are used, and much more.

Those data are then analyzed to assess procedures, inform decision-making, flag potential issues, and suggest improvements. The OR Black Box gives Duke Health surgical teams knowledge at a scale that was previously unimaginable — all in the interest of making sure every patient at Duke has the safest and most positive possible outcome.