5G-Enabled Hybrid Operating Rooms in the Digital Transformation of Healthcare: A Comparative SWOT Analysis of Türkiye and Global Practices

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to comprehensively examine the new paradigm introduced by 5G-enabled hybrid operating rooms within the digital transformation of healthcare services. The study focuses on evaluating the role of this technological integration in surgical practices through a comparative perspective, with particular emphasis on Türkiye and global examples. Methods: A qualitative and comparative research design was adopted. The study analyzes 5G-based surgical projects, smart hospital initiatives, city hospitals, and pilot hybrid operating room implementations in Türkiye, alongside international practices in the European Union, the United States, and East Asian countries. The collected data were systematically assessed using a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis framework to evaluate technological, organizational, and policy-related dimensions. Results: The findings reveal that 5G-enabled hybrid operating rooms contribute significantly to increased surgical precision, real-time high-resolution image transmission, rapid clinical decision-making, and improved patient safety. Strong aspects include enhanced multidisciplinary collaboration, remote expert support, and the integration of robotic surgery and artificial intelligence. However, high infrastructure and investment costs, technical integration challenges, and the need for qualified human resources were identified as major weaknesses. Opportunities were mainly associated with remote surgery, health tourism, and international collaborations, while threats included data security concerns, regulatory incompatibilities, and digital inequalities. Conclusion: The study concludes that 5G-enabled hybrid operating rooms represent a transformative paradigm in the digitalization of healthcare services. For Türkiye, aligning this transformation with global best practices through sustainable policies, robust governance mechanisms, and regulatory frameworks is essential to maximize benefits and minimize risks.

Keywords

• Hybrid operating rooms
• Digital health
• Digital transformation in healthcare
• 5G technology
• Remote surgery

5G DESTEKLİ HİBRİT AMELİYATHANELER SAĞLIK HİZMETLERİNİN DİJİTAL DÖNÜŞÜMÜNDE: TÜRKİYE VE KÜRESEL UYGULAMALARIN KARŞILAŞTIRMALI SWOT ANALİZİ

Abstract

Amaç: Bu çalışma, sağlık hizmetlerinin dijital dönüşümü kapsamında 5G destekli hibrit ameliyathanelerin getirdiği yeni paradigmayı kapsamlı bir şekilde incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Çalışma, özellikle Türkiye ve küresel örnekler üzerinde durarak, bu teknolojik entegrasyonun cerrahi uygulamalardaki rolünü karşılaştırmalı bir bakış açısıyla değerlendirmeye odaklanmaktadır. Yöntemler: Niteliksel ve karşılaştırmalı bir araştırma tasarımı benimsenmiştir. Çalışma, Türkiye'deki 5G tabanlı cerrahi projeleri, akıllı hastane girişimlerini, şehir hastanelerini ve pilot hibrit ameliyathane uygulamalarını, Avrupa Birliği, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri ve Doğu Asya ülkelerindeki uluslararası uygulamalarla birlikte analiz etmektedir. Toplanan veriler, teknolojik, organizasyonel ve politika ile ilgili boyutları değerlendirmek için SWOT (Güçlü Yönler, Zayıf Yönler, Fırsatlar, Tehditler) analiz çerçevesi kullanılarak sistematik olarak değerlendirilmiştir. Sonuçlar: Bulgular, 5G destekli hibrit ameliyathanelerin cerrahi hassasiyeti, gerçek zamanlı yüksek çözünürlüklü görüntü iletimi, hızlı klinik karar verme ve hasta güvenliğinin iyileştirilmesine önemli ölçüde katkıda bulunduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Güçlü yönler arasında gelişmiş multidisipliner iş birliği, uzaktan uzman desteği ve robotik cerrahi ile yapay zekanın entegrasyonu yer almaktadır. Ancak, yüksek altyapı ve yatırım maliyetleri, teknik entegrasyon zorlukları ve nitelikli insan kaynaklarına duyulan ihtiyaç, başlıca zayıf yönler olarak belirlenmiştir. Fırsatlar esas olarak uzaktan cerrahi, sağlık turizmi ve uluslararası iş birlikleriyle ilişkilendirilirken, tehditler arasında veri güvenliği endişeleri, düzenleyici uyumsuzluklar ve dijital eşitsizlikler yer almaktadır. Sonuç: Çalışma, 5G destekli hibrit ameliyat odalarının sağlık hizmetlerinin dijitalleşmesinde dönüştürücü bir paradigma oluşturduğu sonucuna varmıştır. Türkiye için, bu dönüşümü sürdürülebilir politikalar, sağlam yönetim mekanizmaları ve düzenleyici çerçeveler aracılığıyla küresel en iyi uygulamalarla uyumlu hale getirmek, faydaları en üst düzeye çıkarmak ve riskleri en aza indirmek için elzemdir.

Keywords

• Hibrit ameliyathaneler
• Dijital sağlık
• Sağlık hizmetlerinde dijital dönüşüm
• Uzaktan cerrahi.

References

1. Acıbadem Healthcare Group. (2021). 5G-Enabled Smart Hospital Applications. https://www.acibadem.com.tr/.
2. Alfonso, F., et al. (2017). Hybrid Operating Rooms: Concepts, Design, And Clinical Applications. European Heart Journal, 38(24), 1891–1900.
3. Aljuboori, Z. (2021). Optimal Design Of Neurosurgical Hybrid Operating Room. Surgical Neurology International, 12, 230.
4. Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi. (2025). Hybrid Operating Room https://www.anadolumedicalcenter.com/medical-technology/hibrit-ameliyathane.
5. Balch, J. A., Loftus, T. J., Ruppert, M. M., Rosenthal, M. D., Mohr, A. M., Efron, P. A., et al. (2023). Retrospective Value Assessment Of A Dedicated, Trauma Hybrid Operating Room. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 94(6), 814–822.
6. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2019). Remote Patient Monitoring Services. CMS. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coverage/telehealth/remote-patient-monitoring.
7. Cheng, A., Li, E. Y. M., Chan, T. C. Y.,Wong, A. B., Chan, P., W. L. (2015). Hybrid Procedure For Orbital Venous Malformation İn The Endovascular Operating Room. Eye 29(8), 1069-1075.
8. Deloitte. (2021). Cost Analysis Of Digital Operating Rooms. https://www.deloitte.com/tr/tr.html. Ericsson. (2023). 5G For Healthcare: Use Cases And Deployment Models. https://www.ericsson.com/en/industries/healthcare.

9. European Association of Hybrid Operating Room. (2021). Hybrid Operating Rooms: Standards And Applications. https://www.eahor.eu.
10. European Commission. (2020). Digital Skills İn Healthcare Workforce. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu. European Commission. (2021). EU4Health Programme. https://health.ec.europa.eu.
11. European Parliament. (2021). Regulation Of AI And Digital Health. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en. European Union Agency for Cybersecurity [ENISA], (2022). Cybersecurity İn Healthcare. https://www.enisa.europa.eu.
12. European Union. (2016). General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679. https://eur-lex.europa.eu.
13. Fitbit. (2023). Blood Oxygen (Spo₂) Tracking. Fitbit LLC. https://support.google.com/fitbit/answer/14226120?hl=en.
14. Frenk, J., et al. (2010). Health Professionals Education. The Lancet. https://www.thelancet.com.
15. GE HealthCare. (2025). Hybrid OR. https://www.gehealthcare.com/en/specialties/hybrid-or.
16. Gill, R.R., Zheng, Y., Barlow, J., Jayender, J., Girard, E., Hartiga, P.M. (2015). Image-Guided Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (İvats)- Phasei-İi- Clinical Trial. Journal of Surgical Oncology, 112(1), 18-25 .
17. Greenhalgh, T., et al. (2017). Adoption Of Digital Health İnnovations. Journal of Medical Internet Research. https://www.jmir.org/2017/11/e367.
18. GSMA. (2022). Private 5G networks in hospitals. https://www.gsma.com/iot/private-networks. Gupta, N., Juneja, P. K., Sharma, S., & Garg, U. (2021). Future Aspect Of 5G-Iot Architecture İn Smart Healthcare System. In 2021 5th International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Control Systems (ICICCS) (pp. 406-411). IEEE.
19. Haerz-Zentner, J., et al. (2016). Definition And Standards Of Hybrid Operating Rooms: Strasbourg İnternational Consensus Study. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7771637.
20. Hashimoto, D. A., et al. (2018). Artificial İntelligence İn Surgery. Annals of Surgery, 268(1), 70–76. https://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery
21. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society [HIMSS], (2021). Interoperability İn Smart Hospitals. https://www.himss.org/
22. Huawei. (2021). 5G And Digital Healthcare: Energy Efficiency And Performance. Huawei Technologies. https://www-file.huawei.com/-/media/corp2020/pdf/publications/winwin/winwin-38-en.pdf
23. IBM Security. (2023). Healthcare Data Breach Report. https://www.ibm.com/solutions/security
24. ICNIRP. (2020). Guidelines For Limiting Exposure To Electromagnetic Fields (100 kHz–300 GHz). International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection. https://www.icnirp.org/en/activities/news/news-article/rf-guidelines-2020-published.html
25. International Organization for Standardization [ISO]. (2022). Digital Surgery And İnteroperability Standards. https://www.iso.org
26. International Organization for Standardization. (2019). ISO 14971: Risk Management For Medical Devices. https://www.iso.org/standard/72704.html
27. International Telecommunication Union. (2020). IMT-2020 (5G) Specifications. ITU Radiocommunication Sector.
28. International Telecommunication Union. (2023). 5G Use Cases For Vertical İndustries. https://www.itu.int
29. Jiang, F., et al. (2017). AI İn Healthcare. Journal Of Medical Systems. https://link.springer.com/
30. Kapassa, E., Touloupou, M., Mavrogiorgou, A., Kiourtis, A., Giannouli, D., Katsigianni, K., & Kyriazis, D. (2019). An İnnovative Ehealth System Powered By 5G Network Slicing. In 2019 Sixth International Conference on Internet of Things: Systems, Management and Security (IOTSMS) (pp. 7-12). IEEE.
31. Ma, X., Zhang, J., Yin, Y., & Yue, D. (2020). Application Of 5G Technology İn Remote Medical surgery. Chinese Journal of Surgery, 58(3), 181–184.
32. Magsi, H., Sodhro, A. H., Chachar, F. A., Abro, S. A. K., Sodhro, G. H., & Pirbhulal, S. (2018). Evolution Of 5G İn Internet Of Medical Things. In 2018 international conference on computing, mathematics and engineering technologies (iCoMET) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.
33. Marescaux, J., et al. (2019). Telesurgery With Robotic Systems. Annals of Surgery, 270(2), 1–7. https://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery
34. McKinsey & Company. (2022). Digital hospitals: Operational challenges. https://www.mckinsey.com/ Müller, M., et al. (2018). Integration Of Advanced İmaging Technologies İn Hybrid Operating Rooms. Journal of Surgical Innovation, 25(3), 234–242.
35. National Institutes of Health [NIH], (2021). Academic Medical İnnovation Ecosystems. https://www.nih.gov/ OECD. (2020). Health Data Governance. https://www.oecd.org/health
36. OECD. (2022). Medical Tourism And Cross-Border Healthcare. https://www.oecd.org/health
37. Palacios-Rodriguez, H.E., Hiroe, N., Guzman- Rodriguez, M., Caicedo, Y., Saldarriaga, L., Ordonez, C. A. (2021). Hybrid Trauma Servic: On The Edge Of Damage Control. Colombia Media, 52(2), e4014686.
38. Park, S. H., et al. (2020). 5G-Based Remote Surgery İn Korea. Telemedicine and e-Health. https://www.liebertpub.com/
39. Rieke, N., Hancox, J., Li, W., Milletarì, F., Roth, H. R., Albarqouni, S., Bakas, S., Galtier, M. N., Landman, B. A., Maier-Hein, K., Ourselin, S., Sheller, M., Summers, R. M., Trask, A., Xu, D., Baust, M., & Cardoso, M. J. (2020). The Future Of Digital Health With Federated Learning. NPJ Digital Medicine, 3, Article 119.
40. Rogers, T., Tsai, T. T., & Pinto, D. S. (2018). Hybrid Operating Rooms: The Future Of Cardiovascular Surgery. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 71(15), 1903–1915.
41. Rothenberg, S. S., et al. (2019). Clinical İmpact Of Hybrid Operating Rooms On Minimally İnvasive Surgery. Surgical Endoscopy, 33(6), 1753–1761.
42. Samancı, M. (2024). Digitalization İn Healthcare Services. Journal of Health and Management, 4(1), 67–86 Strasbourg International Consensus. (2016). Definition And Standards Of Hybrid Operating Rooms. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7771637/.
43. T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı. (2022). Şehir Hastaneleri ve Sağlıkta Dönüşüm. https://www.saglik.gov.tr/
44. T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı. (2023). Sağlıkta Dijital Dönüşüm Ve Akıllı Hastaneler Raporu. https://www.saglik.gov.tr/
45. Tarantino, G., De Momi, E., & Ferrigno, G. (2020). 5G Technology For Robotic Surgery And Telemedicine. Healthcare Technology Letters, 7(6), 123–128.
46. Topol, E. J. (2019). Deep Medicine: How Artificial İntelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again. Basic Books. Türk Telekom. (2020). 5G Supported Remote Surgery Trial Report. https://www.turktelekom.com.tr/
47. Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu [TÜBİTAK]. (2023). Sağlık Teknolojilerinde Yerli Üretim Stratejisi. https://tubitak.gov.tr/tr
48. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2021). Liability And Safety İn Robotic Surgery. https://www.fda.gov
49. Valdez, A. C., Cook, M., Langlet, J., & Schaar, A. K. (2021). A Review Of 5G Technologies For Healthcare Applications. IEEE Access, 9, 118144–118167.
50. World Bank. (2020). Public–Private Partnerships İn Healthcare İnfrastructure. https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/home
51. World Economic Forum. (2022). Global Medical Supply Chains. https://www.weforum.org/
52. World Health Organization [WHO]. (2021). Digital Health And Equity. https://www.who.int/
53. World Health Organization. (2022). Global Strategy On Digital Health 2020–2025. WHO. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240020924
54. World Medical Association. (2022). Ethical Guidelines For Digital Surgery. https://www.wma.net/
55. World Tourism Organization [UNWTO]. (2022). Health Tourism Development. https://www.unwto.org
56. Yang, K., Zhang, H., & Li, Y. (2021). 5G-Enabled Smart Hospitals: A New Paradigm For Healthcare Digitalization. IEEE Network, 35(2), 210–216.
57. Zhang, Z., Xiao, Y., Ma, Z., Xiao, M., Ding, Z., Lei, X., Fan, P. (2018). 5G Wireless Networks For Healthcare Applications. IEEE Communications Magazine, 56(12), 148–154.
58. Zhou, X., Li, Z., & Chen, Y. (2020). Telemedicine And 5G Technology İn Surgery: Global Perspectives. The Lancet Digital Health, 2(7), e360–e361.
59. Zhu, Y., et al. (2020). Safety And Efficiency Of Hybrid Operating Rooms İn Emergency Surgical Conversion. International Journal of Surgery, 76, 10–16.