• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer

Log in
  • Search
    • Search All SAGES Content
    • Search SAGES Guidelines
    • Search the Video Library
    • Search the Image Library
    • Search the Abstracts Archive
www.sages.org

SAGES

Reimagining surgical care for a healthier world

  • Home
    • Search
    • SAGES Home
    • SAGES Foundation Home
  • About
    • Awards
    • Who Is SAGES?
    • Leadership
    • Our Mission
    • Advocacy
    • Committees
      • SAGES Board of Governors
      • Officers and Representatives of the Society
      • Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs
      • Committee Rosters
      • SAGES Past Presidents
  • Meetings
    • SAGES NBT Innovation Weekend
    • SAGES Annual Meeting
      • 2026 Scientific Session Call for Abstracts
      • 2026 Emerging Technology Call for Abstracts
    • CME Claim Form
    • SAGES Past, Present, Future, and Related Meeting Information
    • SAGES Related Meetings & Events Calendar
  • Join SAGES!
    • Membership Application
    • Membership Benefits
    • Membership Types
      • Requirements and Applications for Active Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for Affiliate Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for Associate Active Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for Candidate Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for International Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements for Medical Student Membership
    • Member Spotlight
    • Give the Gift of SAGES Membership
  • Patients
    • Join the SAGES Patient Partner Network (PPN)
    • Patient Information Brochures
    • Healthy Sooner – Patient Information for Minimally Invasive Surgery
    • Choosing Wisely – An Initiative of the ABIM Foundation
    • All in the Recovery: Colorectal Cancer Alliance
    • Find A SAGES Surgeon
  • Publications
    • Sustainability in Surgical Practice
    • SAGES Stories Podcast
    • Patient Information Brochures
    • Patient Information From SAGES
    • TAVAC – Technology and Value Assessments
    • Surgical Endoscopy and Other Journal Information
    • SAGES Manuals
    • MesSAGES – The SAGES Newsletter
    • COVID-19 Archive
    • Troubleshooting Guides
  • Education
    • Wellness Resources – You Are Not Alone
    • Avoid Opiates After Surgery
    • SAGES Subscription Catalog
    • SAGES TV: Home of SAGES Surgical Videos
    • The SAGES Safe Cholecystectomy Program
    • Masters Program
    • Resident and Fellow Opportunities
      • MIS Fellows Course
      • SAGES Robotics Residents and Fellows Courses
      • SAGES Free Resident Webinar Series
      • Fluorescence-Guided Surgery Course for Fellows
      • Fellows’ Career Development Course
    • SAGES S.M.A.R.T. Enhanced Recovery Program
    • SAGES @ Cine-Med Products
      • SAGES Top 21 Minimally Invasive Procedures Every Practicing Surgeon Should Know
      • SAGES Pearls Step-by-Step
      • SAGES Flexible Endoscopy 101
    • SAGES OR SAFETY Video Activity
  • Opportunities
    • Fellowship Recognition Opportunities
    • SAGES Advanced Flexible Endoscopy Area of Concentrated Training (ACT) SEAL
    • Multi-Society Foregut Fellowship Certification
    • Research Opportunities
    • FLS
    • FES
    • FUSE
    • Jobs Board
    • SAGES Go Global: Global Affairs and Humanitarian Efforts
  • OWLS/FLS
You are here: Home / Abstracts / Safety in the Operating “Theater”: Telementoring in Front of a Live Audience

Safety in the Operating “Theater”: Telementoring in Front of a Live Audience

Daniel A Hashimoto, MD, MS2, Denise W Gee, MD, FACS2, Roy Phitayakorn, MD, MHPE, FACS2, Elan R Witkowski, MD2, Emil Petrusa, PhD2, Ramakrishna P Parchuri1, Ozanan R Meireles, MD, FACS2. 1Department of Perioperative Clinical Engineering, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital

Introduction: Surgery provides a unique opportunity to utilize telementoring for procedural education and quality improvement, particularly for the adoption of new techniques or technologies. The development of dedicated surgical telementoring platforms has increased the ease of use of telementoring through additional remote features such as camera and laser pointer control to facilitate the role of the mentor. We present an experience in which telementoring was conducted in the presence of a live audience over a two-day period between a mentor at SAGES Meeting 2016 and an operating surgeon at a US hospital.

Methods and Setup: A telementoring booth was set up at SAGES 2016 with a dedicated, secure ethernet connection established to transmit audiovisual data between a US hospital and SAGES. Minimum bandwidth of 600kbps with a latency of <300ms was set. The Storz VisitOR1 telementoring device was utilized to connect an experienced surgeon (mentee) at the hospital with another experienced surgeon (mentor) at SAGES. Principles established by the SAGES Project 6 Telementoring Initiative were followed.

The two surgeons selected to participate had a pre-established relationship as partners in practice and were both experienced with the case to be telementored – laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). Both agreed in advance to engage in telementoring where the mentor would remotely proctor the mentee through performing LSG using the mentor’s preferred techniques. The patients who were operated on consented to the telementoring process.

To prevent the audience from distracting the telementor during the operations, a commentator, who was also experienced with the procedure, was assigned to explain the technology being utilized, the progress of the case, and the principles of safe telementoring.

Results: Two operations were performed in the telementoring framework with an audience, and each of the two surgeons performed one case as mentor and one as mentee. Both surgeons were satisfied with the connection quality and the educational value of the telementoring session and reported telestration capabilities assisted in clearly relaying instructions. One surgeon did note that the mentor console required navigating through many menus to accomplish certain tasks and would have preferred a simpler interface or more in-depth training on use of the console.

Conclusion: Telementoring can be successfully and safely performed with an audience, allowing for the educational value of an operation to expand to more learners. The Project 6 guidelines provide principles that are effective in setting up safe telementoring scenarios.


Presented at the SAGES 2017 Annual Meeting in Houston, TX.

Abstract ID: 78138

Program Number: S079

Presentation Session: SAGES Got Talent : Resident & Fellow Scientific Session

Presentation Type: ResFel

44

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky

Related


sages_adbutler_leaderboard

Hours & Info

11300 West Olympic Blvd, Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90064

1-310-437-0544

[email protected]

Monday – Friday
8am to 5pm Pacific Time

Find Us Around the Web!

  • Bluesky
  • X
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025 · SAGES · All Rights Reserved

Important Links

Healthy Sooner: Patient Information

SAGES Guidelines, Statements, & Standards of Practice

SAGES Manuals