Patient Perceptions and Permissions for a De-identified Surgical Video Database

Introduction: Video recording in the operating room is increasingly used to capture surgical data for future analysis. We created a novel protocol for immediate deidentification and storage of surgical videos while also eliciting patient preferences for future uses of their video data. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess patient willingness to consent and feasibility of this protocol.

Methods: From November 2022 to January 2023, head and neck surgery patients were approached in the pre-operative area and informed of study. Interested patients were consented and indicated which future uses of their video data were acceptable to them: medical teaching and education; quality improvement and research; public knowledge and education; collaboration with outside industry; and any other purposes. Demographics were collected on all participants as well as qualitative data.

Results: A total of 109 patients were approached with 100 (91.7%) patients consenting to participate. The majority of participants were 60-69 years old (59%), male (59%), white (88%), had surgery before (92%), and had never worked in healthcare (73%). Most (77%) granted permissions for all five video usages. Two of the permissions were agreed to by almost all patients: medical teaching and education (100%) and quality improvement and research (99%). Others had lower rates of consent but were still largely accepted: public knowledge and education (84%), collaboration with outside industry (90%), and any other purposes (85%). Many patients remarked that they were willing to be recorded “if it helps other people” and “doesn’t show my face”.

Conclusions: Patients in this pilot were largely willing to have their surgery recorded if their privacy will be protected through deidentification measures. Most patients are comfortable with their surgical video being used for education, quality improvement and research, while external uses of the video are less widely, but still generally, accepted. This pilot demonstrates the feasibility of a deidentified video database for head and neck surgery patients and paves the way for future research and development endeavors.