Workload and usability evaluation of the da Vinci SP and Xi during low anterior resections.

BACKGROUND

Robotic surgeries have become increasingly popular in the last 20 years, spurring technological innovations.

OBJECTIVE

In this observational study, we compared the workload of Intuitive's da Vinci Single Port (SP) with the da Vinci Xi.

METHODS

We evaluated two surgeons during 24 total low anterior resection surgeries at a large academic hospital, with 12 surgeries utilizing the SP and 12 with the Xi. Surveys were administered to both surgeons and their teams before and after each surgery. Surgeons self-evaluated their workloads (mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, success/performance, effort, frustration, difficulty, fatigue) and the usability of each platform (efficiency and precision of the surgical instruments and camera, touchpad usage, confidence) via survey.

RESULTS

Analysis revealed statistically significant differences in mental and physical workloads (p-value ≤ 0.05) during the vascular dissection subsection, with higher demands in the SP than the Xi and the circulating nurse noting greater effort levels in the SP than the Xi. The robot platform significantly affected robot usability, with surgeons stating that the Xi was more precise and efficient in surgical instrument and camera usage than the SP, leading to higher confidence scores in the Xi.

LIMITATIONS: Only two surgeons were surveyed, and the da Vinci SP was novel and likely associated with a learning curve.

CONCLUSIONS

Usability differences may explain differences in workloads and confidence. Understanding these differences between the robots can aid in selecting optimal cases for each platform.