Why live surgery?

Ken Arnold is head of Public Programmes at Wellcome Collection.

Here Ken explains how live surgery offers a chance for the public to become active participants in science and be inspired by the amazing experience of real world medicine.

In November and July 2007, Wellcome Collection staged a live surgery event where audience members in London watched a live open-heart operation at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge via a two-way live video link. Using this link, the audience could also question leading heart surgeon Francis Wells as he performed a complex reconstruction of a heart valve.

Live heart surgery at Wellcome Collection, London

'I remember the intense curiosity and rapt attention visible on the faces of just about everyone in the audience that evening, caught up, as they were, in the drama of life-saving surgery. This live relay of a heart operation from the Papworth Hospital has been one of the most popular and successful activities held in Wellcome Collection to date.

'I was moved, humbled even, by the professional skill and knowledge on display, by the extraordinary intuitive teamwork, by the human drama that unfolded and by visitors' reactions to it. It somehow summed up all that The Wellcome Trust had hoped for in setting up a new type of science venue.

'For almost three hours they lapped up a great deal of detailed, technical information. But far from just passively watching and listening to medical experts performing a life-saving operation, attendees were also able to ask questions and, crucially, to witness the natural theatre of medicine as it happened.

'What this interactive element also revealed was just how many of them were contemplating a career in medicine. One of our aims for Wellcome Collection is to encourage future generations of researchers and medical practitioners. Well here they were, visibly being switched on.'

Why live surgery on TV?

'Working in collaboration with television clearly enables us to take this unique, inspiring, and frankly breathtaking experience out to a far larger and more diverse audience. But why do it live? Why not work with safely pre-recorded material? In fact, there is already plenty of footage of surgical operations available on the web. And it has to be stressed that nothing in this project has been allowed to compromise patient safety, and the principle of voluntary consent is also absolute.

'But what the live element adds is a special magic. It introduces audiences to a lived experience, one that enormously enhances the direct personal impact. It also allows the topics and details that are examined to be guided and personalised by lay interests. In a time when the level of trust and engagement in science and medicine is a serious public concern, an event that enables people to relate so directly to medicine as it happens in the real world is crucially important.'

Re-humanising surgery

'Medicine has, in fact, been conducted within the public domain for most of its history. Surgery and anatomy were originally, of course, developed in so-called 'theatres'. The trade of chemists was for ages strongly associated with show business. And television listings regularly bulge with documentaries and dramas woven around medical and health themes.

'Arguably, one of the problems with the modern development of medicine is precisely that it has been too far removed from the public realm, almost hidden away. So that along with the enormous and unarguable benefits of professionalised medicine has come a cold, de-personalised service, some contend. Ultimately, I believe these live surgery events will help re-humanise parts of scientific medicine and put the spotlight back on the people.'

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