Health

Is Your Nurse A Computer?

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 31, 2002 / 8:43 AM EST / CBS

There's a new computer that can perform some of the duties usually carried out by a nurse in the operating room.

Health Contributor Dr. Emily Senay went to Hackensack Medical Center in New Jersey to find out more about voice-activated surgery for The Early Show. There's a lot to keep track of in the high-tech operating rooms of today. Surgeons around the country are starting to use Hermes, a new medical device.

Hermes is a computer that responds to voice commands sent by surgeons, like James Luketich, during an operation.

"There are a variety of commands controlling lights, pressure in the abdomen, camera, focus, white balance," says the surgeon. "I can take pictures; I can take video, all at a simple voice command."

Hermes can even handle some specific operation functions for the surgeon, like controlling how much carbon dioxide to pump into a patient's abdomen and indicating if there is a problem. It also controls the camera the surgeon uses to see what he or she is doing.

It can even make a phone call and compliment the surgeon on a job well done.

Many of Hermes' tasks have traditionally been performed by a nurse. "But the nurse has many other duties to the patient in terms of helping the operation run smoothly," says Dr. Lutenick.

"And each time I have to stop and ask the nurse to stop what she's doing and come over, it halts the flow of the operation,ÆÂ'the rhythm of the operation," he says. "The nurses are pretty pleased about this. It frees them to do other care."

So far, he adds, Hermes appears to shorten the duration of an operation, which is important to help improve patient outcome.

With this technology's next generation, voice-activated systems will help tilt the table during the operation. Right now, retractor arms can be voice-activated during the surgery.