{"id":235,"date":"2026-10-28T15:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T05:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/?p=235"},"modified":"2026-11-02T13:47:25","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T03:47:25","slug":"the-proctor-across-the-ditch-a-surgeons-experience-with-touch-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/the-proctor-across-the-ditch-a-surgeons-experience-with-touch-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"The proctor across the ditch: a surgeon\u2019s experience with Touch Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\tThe proctor across the ditch: a surgeon’s experience with Touch Surgery\t<\/h1>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"3\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t

When I started robotic surgery with the Hugo RAS system at Franklin Hospital in rural Pukekohe south of Auckland, the logistics of proctoring were my biggest concern. In New Zealand, proctored credentialing lists usually mean flying a proctor in from overseas. Instead, all three of my proctored lists were supervised remotely using Touch Surgery LiveStream.<\/p>\n

This mattered more than I expected. Equipment issues on my first list meant I completed only one robotic case. If a proctor had flown in for that day, it would have been an expensive disappointment. By contrast, my da Vinci credentialing has been complicated by numerous scheduling conflicts due to the need for travel time allowances around single operating lists.<\/p>\n

I noticed no disadvantage to having my proctor offsite. They could see entry and port placement, my hands during surgery, and my surgeon view. The latency and image quality are far beyond generic videoconferencing. Conversation flows as if the proctor is in the room, and the image is sharp enough to make out nerves and fine vessels during delicate pelvic dissection.<\/p>\n

When I proctored for the first time, an experienced Sydney-based proctor supported me through LiveStream. The surgeon I was proctoring got the best of both worlds, and I had backup while learning a new role. I have also livestreamed cases to colleagues who are considering taking up robotic surgery hundreds of kilometres away.<\/p>\n

Touch Surgery is also my surgical video library. I have recorded more than 20 cases directly and uploaded many more from public hospital laparoscopic stacks. Videos are automatically divided into labelled chapters, are available on demand straight away, and can be shared directly to colleagues’ accounts. Recording pixelates automatically whenever the camera is outside the abdomen, so staff and patient identifiers are not captured. I routinely consent patients for anonymised recording for teaching and self-improvement, and a few have enjoyed seeing their own surgery.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\"2\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t

As a RANZCOG training supervisor at Middlemore, I record my registrars’ cases, and we review segments on my phone in the tea room. That feels far more approachable than booking time in front of a computer. Most registrars have never seen themselves operate. The video makes unnecessary movements and stalled progress obvious, but it also shows them the whole case from start to finish, and what they achieved.<\/p>\n

Camera in\/out time lets me compare true operating time between robotic and laparoscopic cases. Early robotic lists often had more than an hour of non-operative time, so seeing the camera times clearly showed us that the efficiency gains lay with the whole theatre team, not just my console skills.<\/p>\n

Overall, Touch Surgery is a remarkably mature and reliable platform for recording and broadcasting surgery. In effect, it is a secure, purpose-built YouTube for surgical video.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: Dr Holford is a paid Medtronic proctor and has received sponsored travel as part of his robotic training.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\"1\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t

Dr Sam Holford<\/strong>
MBChB, FRANZCOG, AGES Fellowship
Middlemore Hospital (Counties Manukau Health) and Franklin Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A New Zealand gynaecologist describes how Touch Surgery LiveStream made remote robotic proctoring possible, and how surgical video has changed his credentialing, registrar teaching and theatre efficiency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":72,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":268,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions\/268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}