Barriers to the adoption of routine surgical video recording: a mixed-methods qualitative study of a real-world implementation of a video recording platform

Background: Routine surgical video recording has multiple benefits. Video acts as an objective record of the operative record, allows video-based coaching and is integral to the development of digital technologies. Despite these benefits, adoption is not widespread. To date, only questionnaire studies have explored this failure in adoption. This study aims to determine the barriers and provide recommendations for the implementation of routine surgical video recording. Materials and methods: A pre- and post-pilot questionnaire surrounding a real-world implementation of a C-SATS, an educational recording and surgical analytics platform, was conducted in a university teaching hospital trust. Usage metrics from the pilot study and descriptive analyses of questionnaire responses were used with the non-adoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, sustainability (NASSS) framework to create topic guides for semi-structured interviews. Transcripts of interviews were evaluated in an inductive thematic analysis. Results: Engagement with the C-SATS platform failed to reach consistent levels with only 57 videos uploaded. Three attending surgeons, four surgical residents, one scrub nurse, three patients, one lawyer, and one industry representative were interviewed, all of which perceived value in recording. Barriers of ‘change,’ ‘resource,’ and ‘governance,’ were identified as the main themes. Resistance was centred on patient misinterpretation of videos. Participants believed availability of infrastructure would facilitate adoption but integration into surgical workflow is required. Regulatory uncertainty was centred around anonymity and data ownership. Conclusion: Barriers to the adoption of routine surgical video recording exist beyond technological barriers alone. Priorities for implementation include integration recording into the patient record, engaging all stakeholders to ensure buy-in, and formalising consent processes to establish patient trust.