Welcome to the Surgical Innovation Lab
The mission of the Surgical Innovation Lab is to investigate what threatens patient safety in the operating room. We approach this complex problem through multiple methodologies, including bioengineering, and interprofessional and observational approaches. We are committed to involving learners from UMKC and strive to mentor each student's ability to acquire and critically interpret research data and apply it to theories of surgical learning and patient safety.
Research
Interprofessional Studies in the OR
Explore more about Interprofessional studies
Ethnography
We examine the lived experience of the surgical theater. Some of the articles below are results of this research, namely:
1.“Absence or Presence: Silent Discourse in the Operating Room and Impact on Surgical Team Action”
2. “An Ethnographic Study Examining Attending Surgeon Persona in the Operating Room and Influence on Interprofessional Team Action”
3."Unpacked expertise: Difficult mask ventilation, judgment cues, and critical decision making"
4."Non Verbal patterns of communication in the OR"
Electronic Health Record Studies using the HealthFacts database
We use Cerner’s HealthFacts database to answer questions about rare outcomes. This database contains more than 500 million deidentified, longitudinal patient encounters compiled from 750 participating hospitals.
Surgical Simulation using Motion Capture
We conduct studies of the Midurethral sling procedure using a simulation platform and motion capture technology. We hypothesize that surgical error related to sub-optimal surgeon bio-mechanics can be quantified, predicted, and avoided by discrete changes in the kinematics of the surgeon’s shoulder, elbow, and wrist, and the surgical instrument’s spatio-temporal characteristics. Clicking the link below will take you to a list of our publications resulting from this research.
Explore more about surgical simulation
Our News
Lab News
News
May 17, 2024 - We have just received word that we got the grant!!!!
Congratulations to Surgilab and the Speech Communication Interference Team on the Award of an Agency for Healthcare Research Quality R01 Four year grant to assess and mitigate Speech Communication Interference in the OR.
May 2024
Congratulations to Graduates everywhere! We would especially like to acknowledge "our" graduates - those who have worked with us in the lab, and whom we hope will continue to collaborate:
- Imaima Casubhoy, MD
- Vijay Dimry, MD
- Kiersten (Kay) Herzog, MD
- Divya Jain, MD
- Mallika Joshi, MD
- Tanvi Karmarkar, MD
- Jada Ohene-Agyei, MD
- Mauli Patel, MD
- Aarya Ramprasad, MD
Very best wishes to you all!
March 2024
Congratulations to Dr. Navin Viswanathan and his co-investigators at Penn State, upon their grant award to augment speech communications tools for people who have been diagnosed with ALS. You can read more about it here!
October 2023
Congratulations to Dr. Gary Sutkin, upon receiving the 2023 Betty M Drees, MD Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award! This award recognizes senior faculty members who have made a significant contribution towards enhancing the education and development of faculty and trainees.
September 2023
Congratulations to our collaborator, Dr Ken Catchpole, who has been selected to receive selected to receive the IEA Fellow Award! The International Ergonomics Association is the international federation of ergonomics and human factors societies from around the world. This award is given in recognition of outstanding and sustained performance in the field of ergonomics and human factors at an international level, as well as an extensive publication record in international journal. The formal presentation ceremony will be on JeJu, Republic of Korea, in August 2024. Ken joins a select group of the 150 the most influential and well-respected international leaders working in his profession.
July 2023
Md Arif successfully defends PhD Dissertation!
Congratulations to our long time team member and collaborator, Md A. Arif, on defending his dissertation. Sadly, it means he will be moving on to his next life experience and we will miss working with him! Very best wishes to Arif!
May 2023
2023 Rising Star Awarded to Duy Ho
Congratulations to our collaborator from the School of Science and Engineering
Duy H. Ho, who is currently in his fourth year of doctoral studies in Computer Science under the mentorship of Dr. Yugi Lee, has been acknowledged with the Rising Star Award from the Office of Research Development at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). He has been actively participating in and contributing to a multitude of projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Of particular note is his significant contribution to the NSF INCLUDES’s SOAR (Surmounting Obstacles for Academic Resilience. He has also played a crucial role in the WeLiten project, which is backed by grants from Kansas City and EIG. His research extends further into the realm of healthcare, where he is involved in the development of cognitive digital twins for AI-empowered robotic surgery initiatives. These initiatives are being undertaken at the Women's Clinic of UMKC's School of Medicine and are also supported by an NIH grant. His commendable academic achievements have earned him the Outstanding Doctoral Student Award in Computer Science. Moreover, he was recently granted a research proposal by the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) at UMKC. In addition to his exemplary work in research projects, Ho is also committed to improving his skills in writing research grants with a focus on artificial intelligence and deep learning techniques. His unwavering commitment to research and continuous skill enhancement is making a significant impact in the field of computer science.
NSF INCLUDES SOAR: https://tapdintostem.org/soar_portal_links/
WeListen: https://info.umkc.edu/healthy-jackson-county/
Congratulations to Dr. Yugyung Lee’s lab at the Department of Department of Computer Science Electrical Engineering, at the UMKC School of Computing and Engineering on winning 1st and 3rd places at the 2022 Fall Hack-A-Roo T-Mobile AR/VR Track!
2 Teams from her lab won awards:
- 1st Prize: Team: MedVR – Team Members: Alqarni Saeed, Albishri Ahmed, Rogers Morgan
MedVR is a VR application targeting the healthcare domain. This app makes the education and training of students in schools or hospitals easier. In addition, this app allows you to interact with different body organs for better visualization and learning. We have also added the ability to render Medical CT or MR volumes and interact with these files in many ways. MedVR is a promising 3D VR application that can be utilized by biology teachers as well as doctors in hospitals.
- 3rd Prize: WeLiveVR – Team Members: Duy Ho, Uyen Ho
WeLiveVR is a sub-Metaverse project to allow users to interact with the virtual world in many different ways via precious controller tracking and hand-tracking: surgery, entertainment, socialization.
Announcements
5/3/2024 Woohoo! We've had 2 abstracts accepted for the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) 2024 Annual Meeting! Basel, here we come!
- Huang E, Yanamala S, Steele S, Bacon D, McKenzie A, Sutkin G. “Follow it up until you come to the nose of the thing!” Ambiguous verbal instruction in robotic surgery. Accepted abstract for short communication at the Association for Medical Education in Europe 2024 Conference, Aug 24-28, 2024. Basel, Switzerland.
- Rose C, Martin J, Cheng AL, Sutkin G. Nonverbal Communication in the Operating Room and Resident Surgical Autonomy. Accepted Abstract for E-poster at the Association for Medical Education in Europe 2024 Conference, Aug 24-28, 2024. Basel, Switzerland.
3/15/2024 We had a great time at The 12th annual UMKC Health Sciences Student Research Summit (HSSRS), which was at the Children's Mercy Research Institute on March 20, 2024 from 1-4PM. This year, 5 of our Team members presented their research findings:
- Ohena-Agyei J, Cheng AL, Sahil, S, Wang X, Shepherd J, Sutkin G. Effect of Perioperative Antibiotic Selection in Sacral Neurostimulator Removal: A Case Control Study. Poster presentation at The University of Missouri Kansas City Health Sciences Student Research Summit, March 20, 2024, Kansas City, MO.
- Yanamala S, Huang E, Steele C, McKenzie A, Sutkin G. Semantic Analysis of Ambiguous Verbal Instruction in Robotic Surgery. Poster presentation at The University of Missouri Kansas City Health Sciences Student Research Summit, March 20, 2024, Kansas City, MO.
- Teano A, Refaat M, Steeler C, Brommelsiek M, Catchpole K, Chan YR, Davies A, Simonson R, Sutkin G. Speech Communication Interference in the Operating Room. Poster presentation at The University of Missouri Kansas City Health Sciences Student Research Summit, March 20, 2024, Kansas City, MO.
- Herzog K, Wang X, Bachar A, Sahil S, Cheng, AL, Ohene-Agyei J, Shepherd JP, Sutkin G. The Impact of Preoperative HbA1c on Reoperation Rates in Women Undergoing Surgery for Stress Urinary Incontinence and Pelvic Organ Prolapse. Poster presentation at The University of Missouri Kansas City Health Sciences Student Research Summit, March 20, 2024. Kansas City, MO.
- Gampala A, Davies A, Steele C, Cianciolo A, Sutkin G. Critical Coaching: Guided Reflection in Action in Terms of Endotracheal Intubation. Poster presentation at The University of Missouri Kansas City Health Sciences Student Research Summit, March 20, 2024. Kansas City, MO.
Dr Sutkin will be gave an oral presentation and a poster presentation disseminating our SCI Research findings at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) International Symposium on Human factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare, March 24-27th, 2024, Chicago, IL.
In addition, Casey Rose will be presenting his findings at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Association for Surgical Education at Surgical Education Week in Orlando, FL April 23rd - 27th, 2024.
2/22/2024 Congratulations to Aarya Ramprasad, Imaima Casubhoy, Melanie Meister, Brenda Bethman, and Gary Sutkin on the publication of their article, "Language In the Teaching Operating Room: Expressing Confidence Versus Community" in the Journal of Surgical Education. Click the title for a peek!
Congrats also to Tanvi Karmarkar, Ashna Mahadev, Austin Bachar, Andrew McKenzie and Gary Sutkin, whose publication, "Right Into the Center”: a Semantic Analysis of Direction in Operating Room Instruction, has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Surgical Education. Stand by for publication details as we get them!
Congrats to our medical student team members, Ashlesha Bhojane and Arjun Gampala. they have each been awarded a Sarah Morrison Research Award. This award provides funding in the amount of up to $3,000 to pursue a research project of their own design! We can't wait to see the end results!
As we welcome 2024 changes have already begun. Our research Assistant, Austin, has left us for greener pastures, and we wish him the very best, as well as thank him for his much appreciated hard work! Good Luck, Austin!
We welcome our new Research Assistant, Carsen Steele. Carsen has already proven herself to be a hard worker, quick study, sharp, and personable. We look forward to working with her!
2023 was a flurry of research dissemination. Over the past year, our teams have had over 13 abstracts accepted at local/regional/national/international meetings.
Dr. Sutkin presented at the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS) PFD Week 2023, October 4-6, 2023 in Portland, Oregon
- Surgeon Upper Extremity Kinematics During Error and Error-Free Retropubic Trocar Passage. Md A Arif, Austin Bachar, An-Lin Cheng, Gregory W. King, Antonis P Stylianou, Gary Sutkin.
Following that, Dr. Sutkin and Imaima Casubhoy each presented abstracts at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress October 22-25, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts.
- Speech Communication Interference in the OR. Gary Sutkin, Austin Bachar, Margaret Brommelsiek, Richard John Simonson, Yui-Yee Raymond Chan, Amber Davies, Ken Catchpole
- How Surgeons Communicate and Teach: An Analysis of Intraoperative Agentic and Communal Language. Imaima Casubhoy, Aarya Ramprasad, Austin Bachar, Melanie Meister, Brenda Bethman, Gary Sutkin
All of our researchers did especially well in the design and presentation of their projects, and have presented 3 of our submitted abstracts at the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) 2023 Annual Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, August 26-30, 2023.
- To Speak or Not to Speak: Factors Influencing Medical Students’ Speech and Silence in the Operating Room – Podium Short Presentation, Kashif Javid. Tariq Said, Margaret Brommelsiek, Austin Bachar, Gary Sutkin
- “Go Up Under There”: A Semantic Analysis of Direction in Operating Room Instruction – Podium Short Presentation. Tanvi Karmarkar, Austin Bachar, Andrew McKenzie, Gary Sutkin
- Intraoperative video recording: capturing opportunities to advance health professions education research. Huang E. Bachar A, Ryoo DY, Littleton EB, O’Sullivan P, Sutkin G.
- The Topographic Body: Anatomical Landmarks and Surgical Decision-Making. Short Communication. Margaret Brommelsiek, Shannon M Jackson, Gary Sutkin.
Congratulations to Ashna Mahadev and Faith Mueller! They have each presented their abstracts at podium presentations during the 2023 Association for Surgical Education Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 13-15, 2023!
- Implicit Communication and Miscommunication in Surgical Instruction – Ashna Mahadev
- Cognitive Models for Mentally Visualizing a Sharp Instrument in a Blind procedure – Faith Mueller
Further Congratulations to Aarya Ramprasad, who presented in the new category, “Quick Shot Presentation” at the 2023 Association for Surgical Education Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 13-15, 2023!
- Language in the Teaching OR: Expressing Confidence versus Community – Aarya Ramprasad
And finally, to Da Yeon Roo, whose poster presentation was presented by Dr Emily Huang at the 2023 Association for Surgical Education Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 13-15, 2023!
- Seeing the big picture: full-scene intraoperative videography in surgical education research
Congratulations to Faith Mueller and Antonis Stylianou! Faith presented her poster, and Dr Sutkin presented Dr Stylianou’s poster at the 2023 Surgeons & Engineers: A Dialogue on Surgical Simulation in Chicago, IL, March 1, 2023.
“Estimating Surgical Instrument Position in Blind 3D Space during Simulated Retropubic Trocar Passage” – Faith Mueller
“Kinematic Differences between Novice and Expert Surgeons during Simulated Midurethral Sling Surgery” – Antonis Stylianou
Congratulations to Tara Krishnan and Kay Herzog! Tara’s poster was presented by Dr Sutkin, while Kiersten Herzog presented her poster at the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons 2023 in Tucson, AZ, March 19-22, 2023.
- “The Impact of Facial Personal Protective Equipment on Speech Intensity” – Tara Krishnan
- “The Impact of Preoperative HbA1c on Reoperation Rates in Women Undergoing Surgery for Stress Urinary Incontinence and Pelvic Organ Prolapse” – Kay Herzog
Dr. Andrew McKenzie presented our research at the Linguistic Society of America 97th Annual Meeting 2023, Denver CO, January 5-8, 2023.
- “Take a bit off the top here”:Ambiguity and vagueness in the operating room – Ashna Mahadev, Austin Bachar, Andrew McKenzie, Gary Sutkin
Meet Our Team Members
Our Co-Investigators and Collaborators
