FEATURE MEDICAL, MILITARY & INDUSTRIAL THE HEART OF
THE SYSTEM NUCLeUS, and how it
assists doctors and nurses Medical workers are experiencing an unprecedented level of demand. Easing their responsibilities should be a priority: Sony believes it has a HMI solution that could achieve this, as John Herman, European marketing manager at Sony Europe, attests
Christian Lynn: Hospitals and healthcare centres continue to face increasing demands and pressures on an already stretched system. Has Sony designed the NUCLeUS software platform in light of this, to support patient flow and help clinicians work more effectively to prioritise patient care? What features are the most important in this regard - the interoperability with hospital records and systems, for example?
John Herman: Recent figures from the NHS show that there are now 4.4 million people in England waiting for surgery - the highest total, on record. Subsequently, hospitals are finding new and improved ways to manage patient treatments, both in and outside the operating theatre. Technology solutions that enhance communication and collaboration across the hospital site, as well as streamlining operating procedures to improve efficiencies and clinical decision-making, are now critical investments for forward-looking healthcare institutions. Sony developed NUCLeUS in close consultation with leading surgeons across Europe, to ensure the centralised system would address and ease the current strains felt by clinicians. The open and scalable video- over-IP platform transforms surgical workflow efficiency in today’s networked hospital environment. By connecting devices, applications and patient-related data, NUCLeUS
22 APRIL 2020 | ELECTRONICS
enables real-time decisions by every hospital department and stakeholder, focusing on hospital staff requirements to allow new possibilities and better informed decision-making.
CL: The NUCLeUS touch interface – how has Sony designed the display to achieve ease of use? Is there a possibility for purely digital interfaces, as we’re seeing develop in some automotive applications?
The NUCLeUS GUI
JH: The NUCLeUS GUI is essentially the control hub of the OR. All aspects of image workflow and the operating room environment can be managed through one simple, intuitive touch interface. The GUI allows clinical staff to easily control each procedure and step through the selection of patient information from the HIS system. It can set up music and pre-operation videos, which can help calm patients prior to procedures. There’s also the possibility to switch and route video feeds, while additionally setting up multiple image layouts for large displays, to allow surgeons and clinical staff to see live surgical content and patient vitals or radiology images, all simultaneously. Finally, it enables the user to select what content to broadcast to other locations on the network through
control room cameras, and reviewing or editing captured content after the operation is completed.
The NUCLeUS intuitive touch-screen GUI lets clinical staff route video footage from any source to any display on the network. Multiple videos from endoscopes, surgical microscopes, C-arms, room cameras and other sources can be recorded at the same time on the network-based platform, in any combination of format and resolution. The images, video and data collected can then be linked with other patient records and stored centrally for secure access from anywhere across the hospital-wide IP network. Not only does this simplify imaging workflow, but it reduces the risk of information overload and even duplication for busy clinical staff.
CL: In terms of its more technical aspects, what makes up NUCLeUS? How has Sony designed the architecture of the system to best suit the high-intensity and harsh qualities of the medical environment?
JH: We needed to address the challenges that medical staff face every day. We worked closely with surgeons to ensure we developed a solution that is technically advanced, yet simple to use. We’ve achieved this by providing a solution that is workflow-, IT- and integration-orientated. Being workflow-oriented means NUCLeUS can handle multi-format, multi-standard and multi-resolution video, up to 4K, that enhances the streaming and recording of high-quality audio and video. For smoother imaging
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