A Configurable Footswitch Unit for the Open Networked Neurosurgical OR – Development, Evaluation and Future Perspectives

Footswitches are used in the neurosurgical operating room for human-device-communication every day. However, problems, such as shifting or confusion of footswitches, often occur due to the parallel usage of up to 5 device-specific footswitches, resulting in a significant burden for the surgeon. There are no footswitches available which offer an optional central activation of different devices from various manufacturers and a reconfiguration during usage. Therefore, a new concept of a configurable central footswitch unit has been developed for optional activation of different devices in an open networked neurosurgical OR setting. In a user-centered evaluation 9 surgeons used both, the configurable central footswitch unit and 4 device-specific footswitches, for a cross-over experiment in an experimental OR setting. It shows that all surgeons were able to handle the configurable footswitch autonomously and that efficiency in surgeon-device-communication can be increased.