I´d like to introduce a funny debate.
I took this picture a few years ago on the way to Kanuhura. I suppose that it is safer to pilot an airplane barefoot than wearing flip-flops. It was a Canadian de Havilland DHC-6 twin otter, the most successful seaplane ever, but this is another story.
Yesterday I was shocked to find a video in the web of a surgeon in Japan performing a robotic tele-surgery with the new hinotori robotic surgery system, barefoot.
I prefer to perform robotic surgery with the conventional Crocs I usually wear in the Operating Room, but some of my colleagues are more comfortable taking off the shoes (keeping the socks). They think the feel of the pedal is better. Indeed, Intuitive, the manufacturer of the da Vinci, even makes socks for this (though these are not medical devices, but marketing stuff).
Another option is not to have pedals at all (like the Versius solution, just the hands).
What will people from the Preventive Medicine Department think about it? Of course, the surgeon´s console is outside the scrub area, but for sure it violates some basic electrical safety rule in the OR.
The thing is that it is forbidden to drive a car barefoot (at least in my country, also on flip-flops) …
More on robotic surgeon´s feet.
I find it extraordinarily surprising how US surgeons are able to drive a device with seven clutches (the da Vinci SP) when most of them cannot drive a car with a single clutch…
But the most striking issue… a Japanese surgeon! I have started to understand my Korean colleagues and friends, but not yet the Japanese (…)
Some insight from the pilots?
Just joking.