MinIAttention: Attention Management in Minimal Invasive Surgery

Laparoscopic surgical suboptimal outcomes in patient safety measures are correlated with (i) cognitive load / level of attention of the operating surgeon, (ii) the frequency and degree of disruptions to the surgical workflow, and (iii) the misalignment of visual and motor axes in laparoscopic equipment / setting (eye-hand coordination). This project will create the foundational, design and operational principles of future, surgeon-friendly minimal invasive surgery operating room information technologies (MIS-IT), which –given the ever growing complexity in surgical workflows, as well as instrument and equipment settings– will have to build on human attention as a scarce resource. On the formal model’s and methods’ side, MinIAttention will (i) identify types of human attention, as well as (ii) cognitive and physiological mechanisms revealing its relation to perception, memory, decision making, and learning. (iii) characterize aspects of attention of surgeons during MIS operations, by (iv) focusing on established theories of individual attention and respective attention models.