Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop a model which provides a framework to evaluate the performance of technology on surgery.

METHODS: Participatory Action Research (PAR) was used for this study. In PAR engineers (researchers) and medical doctors (participants) systematically worked together to define indicators, analyzed medical records of patients and solved problems which none of them could work out alone. Engineers observed doctors performing surgery on patients to understand how they used robots. In this study, the effects of da Vinci surgical robot on operational processes were analyzed according to indicators, researches in the literature, results of observations, examination of patient files and expert interviews. Four laryngeal cancer operations were observed. Ten robotic surgery and 10 open surgery files were examined and interviews with one robotic surgery and one open surgery patients were made.

RESULTS: The analysis of collected data showed that (da Vinci) robotic operation system has positive effects on indicators based on quality, flexibility and time. On the other hand, da Vinci robotic operation had disadvantages compared to open surgery in terms of cost-efficacy.

CONCLUSION: Our research showed that dimension and indicator structures can be used to evaluate performance of novel surgery methods instead of the traditional methods.