Surgical Assistants

Other core tasks are partly tech-assisted. Patient monitors already track vital signs automatically, and researchers expect future AI to combine these data streams for warnings so doctors can focus on hard decisions ^[3]. Wound dressings still must be applied by hand, but new “smart dressings” with sensors can report on healing and infection risk over time ^[4].

Even talking through the surgery or consent is mostly done by people. Some studies have tried using AI chatbots (like ChatGPT) to explain a procedure to patients ^[3], and many patients found the AI’s explanations clear. However, AI can’t give the human empathy and reassurance a patient gets from a real nurse or doctor ^[3], so these conversations remain a human task.

Overall, most surgical assistant tasks are still manual; only instrument handling and monitoring have early AI/robotic aids.

But adoption will be slow in many areas. High-tech robots and AI systems are expensive to buy and to train staff on. Hospitals must balance these costs against current labor costs, and savings may be hard to prove.

Patient safety and trust also matter: in a study of AI-assisted surgical consent, only about half of people felt comfortable enough to rely on AI alone, often citing worries about data privacy and the missing human touch ^[3]. Legal and ethical rules around surgery are strict, so any new AI tool needs firm evidence and approvals before use. In short, while AI can help with some OR tasks, the high cost, training needs, and demands for safety and human care will slow its rollout in most hospitals ^{[1] [3]}.