Tiger commentary – This is the wrong application for smart glasses, but at least S+N is trying.
The winning application in the future will be smart glasses with AR. The surgeon should be able to access important real-time information while looking into the surgery site – x-ray vision into bone locations, drilling trajectory and depth, instrument planes, etc.
Smith+Nephew introduces smart glasses into the operating room to enable remote technical support for UK surgeons during procedures (press release)
Smith+Nephew (LSE:SN, NYSE:SNN), the global medical technology company, today announces a partnership with Rods&Cones to provide smart surgery glasses and digital remote assistance to customers. By providing customers with smart surgery glasses, Smith+Nephew representatives can ‘see’ through the eyes of the surgeon, instrumentalist nurse, or any healthcare professional using them, enabling continuous remote support before, during, and after surgical interventions.
Initially used in the UK to support the NHS and other customers, this solution allows Smith+Nephew to increase its ability to offer technical support for safe and effective use of its products at the right time from anywhere in the world. The increased complexity of surgery, advancement of technologies, and need for productivity and efficiency is enabled by ensuring a specialist is available remotely to give best possible expertise exactly when they need it, in the least disruptive way.
“I am delighted that we have agreed to partner with one of the most innovative companies in the area of remote surgical support,” said Simon Tarry, Managing Director of Smith+Nephew’s UKI/Nordics region. “This new partnership will enable our team to deliver the highest possible expertise exactly when our customers and patients need it. At the same time, I believe enhancing our ability to support our customers remotely serves patient safety and sustainability to great effect.”
The multi-year agreement with Rods&Cones allows Smith+Nephew to scale its remote support capability for customers, enabling connectivity with specialist surgeons during minimally invasive surgery. The MIS (Minimal Invasive Surgery) Kit connects seamlessly to a secure Rods&Cones Remote Expert interface, which allows the user to follow and attend a surgery just as if standing in the OR, but with the exact view of the surgeon or other healthcare professional.
Bruno Dheedene, CEO and Founding Partner of Rods&Cones stated that:
“We are thrilled to work with such a great company as Smith+Nephew. The achievements they have made in the MedTech industry, especially within the sphere of repair, regeneration and replacement of soft and hard tissue has been awe-inspiring. This partnership between Smith+Nephew and Rods&Cones will be a great step forward and together we will change healthcare for the better.”
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About Smith+Nephew
Smith+Nephew is a portfolio medical technology business focused on the repair, regeneration and replacement of soft and hard tissue. We exist to restore people’s bodies and their self-belief by using technology to take the limits off living. We call this purpose ‘Life Unlimited’. Our 18,000 employees deliver this mission every day, making a difference to patients’ lives through the excellence of our product portfolio, and the invention and application of new technologies across our three global franchises of Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine & ENT and Advanced Wound Management.
Founded in Hull, UK, in 1856, we now operate in more than 100 countries, and generated annual sales of $5.2 billion in 2021. Smith+Nephew is a constituent of the FTSE100 (LSE:SN, NYSE:SNN). The terms ‘Group’ and ‘Smith+Nephew’ are used to refer to Smith & Nephew plc and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless the context requires otherwise.
For more information about Smith+Nephew, please visit www.smith-nephew.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook.
About Rods&Cones
Rods&Cones’ purpose is to be a catalyst of change in healthcare to improve people’s lives. The company provides a remote assistance service used to connect medical experts worldwide. With their state-of-the-art technological devices and a digital remote assistance platform, users can connect safely with surgeons, product specialists, or other medical professionals anywhere in the world, in real-time.
Rods&Cones was founded in 2017 by two brothers, Bruno and Jan Dheedene. Based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, the company has now become a leading international supplier of remote surgical assistance services.