Gary Sutkin, MD

Gary Sutkin, MD

Associate Dean
Victor and Caroline Schutte Chair in Women’s Health 
University of Missouri Kansas City, School of Medicine

 

Gary Sutkin, MD is the Associate Dean and Victor and Caroline Schutte Chair in Women’s Health at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine. He is a Professor with tenure in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and in the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics. He is a Urogynecologist and is Board-Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery. He received his undergraduate degree in economics and medicine at Northwestern University, as well as his MD and MBA. His residency and subsequent fellowship were at Magee-Womens Hospital. As a faculty member at Magee, he was the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clerkship Director at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine until 2016. At UMKC he was the Residency Program Director from 2016-2019. He is currently serving as a Division member for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology FPMRS Division, Faculty for the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology Surgical Education Scholars Program, and Co-Chair of the National Board of Medical Examiners Women’s Health Test Material Development Committee.
Dr. Sutkin is passionate about the education of tomorrow’s doctors. His current research interests address surgical safety and error prevention, including interprofessional communication in the operating room. His National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering sponsored research focuses on surgeon kinematics and surgical error.

 

Blind Surgical Procedures and Motion Capture for Surgical Safety

The mission of the Surgical Innovation Lab is to investigate what threatens patient safety in the operating room. We approach this complex problem through multiple methodologies, including bioengineering, and interprofessional and observational approaches. In this presentation, we present work  from the collaboration between surgeon and engineer researchers at UMKC. We used motion capture technology to track a Gynecare TVT trocar on a high fidelity pelvis simulation platform. We measured trocar tip position and recorded vocalizations when surgeon participants perceived contacting the bone and crossing 3 landmark-oriented planes. We calculated differences between vocalization times and when the trocar crossed the corresponding plane. Our results will help surgeons estimate the location of their instrument in blind space when passing it adjacent to vital organs and will improve surgical safety.