Optimize Education: Stream Live Procedures with SurgiCam® HD
ErgoPractice News – June 2018
Digital video cameras have allowed clinicians to easily record various procedures for training, consultation, documentation, and research – but early digital cameras presented numerous drawbacks, including weight, shadows in the field, difficulty editing footage, and expense.1
In 2006 SurgiTel introduced the first loupe-mounted camera as an affordable, convenient, and fully digital alternative to other video technology. Since its introduction we have released the SurgiCam digital cameras with new features, culminating in the 2017 release of the SurgiCam HD (Figure 1) which allows clinicians to record high definition images and manipulate them with user-friendly software.2 Since its introduction, the SurgiCam HD has been used by dental, medical, and veterinary professionals around the world for a variety of purposes.
Video as a Consultation Tool
For a clinician, identifying and understanding the necessity of a procedure may seem easy, but for most patients, it’s difficult to imagine what a health concern looks like or how a procedure will be done. Clinicians all want better treatment plan acceptance, and an informed patient is more likely to agree to recommended treatment. In instances like this, using video is an easy and engaging way to demonstrate to the patient the complex procedures they may not understand with only words.
The SurgiCam HD allows clinicians to record procedures which can be shown to other patients who require the same procedure later on. Clinicians can also stream a live patient consultation in view of the patient, giving them a highly-detailed perspective that leads to a better understanding of their health and the need for the recommended treatment. Helping your patients feel more secure about the proposed treatment will help ensure their participation.
Having a video record of a patient’s health can also be helpful when a clinician is communicating with outside agencies like insurance companies. For dentists, evidence suggests that close to 50% of insurance claims are placed on a pending status and sent back to the dentist for additional information.3 Rather than submitting paperwork that will require back and forth between the clinician and the insurance provider, clinicians can use footage from their SurgiCam HD to demonstrate an indisputable account of their patient’s health. Providing this footage up front can mitigate delay and time lost for your practice and for your patient, resulting in better health outcomes. These videos can also be added to your patient files as history and reference.4
Sharing Procedures with Trainees
While recorded procedures are useful for training, procedures demonstrated in real-time give students the opportunity to see the unique situations they may face during a variety of procedures. Other video recording tools geared toward clinicians have a major drawback when it comes to sharing procedures with students. In order to see a procedure performed in real-time, students are forced to crowd around one screen, potentially missing vital details.
Educators are expected to utilize the technology available to them. To eliminate the need for a class full of students to gather around one computer monitor or television to get an insider’s look at a procedure, we developed the SurgiCam HD so it is able to stream live to hundreds of mobile devices using compatible internet software. Through this software, an entire class of students can tune in to a procedure, live, from multiple computers, tablets, and cell phones. The SurgiCam HD allows educators to create curriculums to take advantage of the technology students already have available to them. Using this system, clinicians ensure their students experience the most beneficial and educational lesson possible. Procedures can also be recorded and manipulated to share again with students at a later time, or to go over together as a class.
Using the SurgiCam HD, clinicians no longer need to split their classes into smaller groups to demonstrate procedures in real-time. Students are able to see exactly what the clinician sees, with the benefit of direct lighting, and only requires the procedures to be performed once (Figure 2).
Innovations in Research
Recordings of procedures can be manipulated easily using the SurgiCam HD’s user-friendly software, and can be uploaded to the internet and shared around the world. Clinicians have found that the SurgiCam HD system allows them to edit and remove non-essential segments, making sure the final video has the most impact.4 Video examples are becoming integral to publishing new and unique procedures, and web hosting allows them to be seen by anyone, anytime. With digital technology like the SurgiCam HD, innovations in research are easily documented and shared.
Marketing Yourself and Your Practice
Many clinicians, especially those in private practice, face the issue of self-promoting their practice. Nowadays, traditional marketing cannot compete with digital marketing when it comes to driving traffic into your practice5, and customers prefer to look at photos and videos rather than read a paragraph of text. Videos are especially important internet content, as studies suggest that 85% of the US internet audience watches videos online (Figure 3).6 Curating your practice’s website, social media, or YouTube page is important to keep your practice at the top of a potential customer’s internet search.
SurgiCam HD videos can be uploaded anywhere videos are hosted, and shared around the world. Use the SurgiCam HD to record short clips that your customers will find interesting – for example how a dentist places a filling, or how a dermatologist performs a skin check. Or establish your expertise by publishing video instructions of various procedures, which can be split into multiple parts in order to engage audiences at various times during the week.
The ease of the SurgiCam HD allows clinicians to develop and grow their web footprint, and successfully bring in new patients.
Vision and Ergonomics at Work
Discover how the SurgiCam HD can help your practice. For more information, or to try it in person, contact your local representative at www.SurgiTel.com/myrep.
References:
- Chang, BJ. “Developing the SurgiCam Digital Video Camera: Advancing Education, Collaboration and Documentation,” ErgoPractice News, November 2014. www.surgitel.com/news
- Chang, BJ. “New Products from SurgiTel: A report from the Chicago Midwinter Meeting,” ErgoPractice News, February 2017. www.surgitel.com/news
- Summerford, K. “3 common ways insurance companies deny dental claims.” Dentistry IQ, February 2018. https://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/2018/02/3-common-ways-insurance-companies-deny-dental-claims.html
- Freeman, G. and Goldstep, F. “Putting Video into Practice and Education,” ErgoPractice News, November 2014. www.surgitel.com/news
- Crasuleac, R. “The importance of online dental practice marketing,” Dental Practice Management, October 2017. http://practicemanagement.dentalproductsreport.com/article/importance-online-dental-practice-marketing
- Lister, M. “37 Staggering Video Marketing Statistics for 2018,” WordStream, May 2018. https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/03/08/video-marketing-statistics
