Health Technology Assessment

The Centre for Public Health in the Central Region of Denmark (Region Midt) has published a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) of Cetrea Surgical (previously labeled "The Interactive Hospital") as used at the Regional Hospital of Horsens. The report concludes that Cetrea Surgical results in both higher effeciency at the operating suite, as well as it improves the quality of the work environment. The HTA documents both quantitative as well as qualitative benefits in using Cetrea Surgical.

Quantitative Results

  • the utilization of operating rooms using Cetrea Surgical increased from 82% to 88%.
  • the utilization of operating rooms using Cetrea Surgical is 15% higher compared to operating rooms not using the system.
  • the likelihood of canceling an operation was reduced to only 33% after putting Cetrea Surgical into use.
  • the likelihood for starting the operation as scheduled increased by 50% when using Cetrea Surgical.

Qualitative Results

  • 70% of all clinicians working at the operating suite agreed that Cetrea Surgical provided easier access to the information that are important and relevant for their work.
  • 87% agreed that they had a better overview of the work to be done during the day.
In conclusion, the result from this HTA study shows that Cetrea Surgical provides the technological basis for better utilization of the operating room capacity and for optimizing the work on a operating suite. In addition, this increase in efficiency does not harm the quality of the working environment – on the contrary, Cetrea Surgical was reported to improve on the working environment by reducing interruptions and stress.
It is also worthwhile to note that this HTA – to the best of our knowledge – is the first HTA and hence systematic examination of the effect of introducing pervasive computing technology in a hospital. As such, the report concludes that;
"An HTA like this would contribute to create a certain transparency and shed light on the consequences of im­plementing a system like [Cetrea Surgical] in a specific organisa­tion. In this way, this report can contribute to forming a basis for decision concerning possible implementation of [Cetrea Surgical] at other Danish hospitals."

The HTA is available for download here or you can read it below: