Live Surgical Skills Labs

The true test for a surgical videographer is to direct either live surgery or live surgical skills demonstrations.

This is where Plexus excels. So much so that Plexus is used repeatedly for surgical demonstrations at meetings such as ISAKOS, the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine; at AOSSM, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine; at AASH, the American Association for Surgery of the Hand; and at the Chicago Sports Medicine Symposium.

Live surgical events have special needs when it comes to video, and most importantly you want to put it in the hands of a video director that knows surgery, knows the procedures, can anticipate the surgeon’s moves, knows how to call camera angles for the next steps of a procedure, who can listen to the presenting surgeon and know what the surgeon is talking about and what needs to happen next.

At Plexus we have developed an innovative system and technology configuration not used by standard video teams that gives the video director more access to the entire camera crew as well as the surgeons. With a mobile multi-cam screen on the studio floor for cadaveric demonstrations, the director can call the shots while also help position cameras and communicate with surgeons, unlike television directors who sit behind a screen. For all live surgical video events you want a director that can react quickly to changes, and this also means that a knowledge of surgery is indispensible.

Since filming at ISAKOS in Rio de Janeiro, where Plexus had a non-English speaking camera crew to work with, this mobile multi-cam screen configuration worked impeccably. Successful broadcasts to as many as 4000 surgeons at a time were done at this meeting, which is one of the largest international surgeon’s meetings in the world. Likewise, in Lyon, France a non-English speaking crew again did not present a problem and the entire event went without a hitch.

Yet not all live events are the same. Each live surgical event must be studied and planned out for the particular needs of these events. And Plexus is experienced and well versed in all modalities of broadcast from satellite broadcasts, to streaming as well as conferencing.