Venerable London and Memphis based orthopedic products supplier, Smith+Nephew plc, is joining forces with Avail Medsystems, Inc. to provide remote operating room services to providers.
Smith+Nephew Joins Forces With Avail Medsystems
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Smith NephewSecondary#availmedsystems#proceduraltelemedicine
Avail Medsystems will allow Smith+Nephew to provide remote accessibility capabilities using Procedural Telemedicine™ System. While the system is not a substitute for a person being in the operating room, it does enable real-time collaboration.
The Procedural Telemedicine System includes a “remotely accessible console with an integrated split-screen display” and “multiple remotely controllable HD pan-tilt-zoom cameras.” Users are also able to “remotely annotate over live video.”
Avail Medsystems CEO Daniel Hawkins spoke with OTW about its product offering. “Over 400 years of combined medical technology development, sales and marketing experience went into creating Avail’s Procedural Telemedicine System with integrated software and hardware that assures rigorous image quality, stable connectivity, and end-to-end security.”
Hawkins continued, “With our technology, industry experts and healthcare professionals can provide support, train, and share knowledge during live procedures–from anywhere.”
Avail Medsystems has begun placing its consoles in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) across the United States free of charge. It offers companies a time-based subscription to access the consoles across its network.
Smith+Nephew SVP Global Medical Education Cindy Walker explained how the partnership benefits Smith+Nephew customers. Walker said, “We have been exploring options for remote access in hospitals and ASCs and have found that the Avail System checks many boxes for both Smith+Nephew and our customers.”
Walker continued, “The ability to tap into the extensive facility network they are building and eliminating the need for Smith+Nephew, or our customers, to invest in capital is an important option for us.”
Smith+Nephew is the first orthopedic company to work with the Procedural Telemedicine System. Hawkins expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership to OTW: “We’re excited to bring Procedural Telemedicine to the Smith+Nephew team through our new partnership.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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