feel more confident in key perioperative tasks
find it easier to orientate travelers and new hires
would recommend Assist to a colleague
Background
HagaZiekenhuis is one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands, providing a range of secondary and tertiary services including a specialized heart and vascular center, dedicated children's and maternity hospitals, and high-volume emergency department. Surgical care is delivered across 15 operating rooms supporting 12 surgical service lines, with more than 46,000 surgeries performed annually.
To meet the demands of this high-volume, high-acuity environment, Haga maintains 24/7 OR team availability at its Den Haag location, delivering out-of-hours care across specialties such as general, trauma, pediatric, and cardiothoracic surgery.
For OR staff, 24-hour coverage often means working across specialties outside their usual scope of practice. Quick access to accurate workflows, surgeon preferences, and specialized equipment information is crucial, especially when covering out-of-hours or working with unfamiliar teams and surgeons. Previously, critical workflow information had been scattered across multiple platforms, making it difficult—particularly for new or traveling staff—to quickly find what they needed. This was especially urgent in emergency cases, where delays can directly impact time-to-treatment and patient safety.
Change
To address these challenges, Haga Hospital Den Haag partnered with Incision to roll out Assist across its OR teams. Led by a work-floor project lead and supported by the hospital’s Innovation Manager, the implementation was fast, seamless, and coordinated; within just three months, over 225 protocols were digitized to cover all of General Surgery, Urology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Neurosurgery. Across specialties, a group of highly motivated key users were pivotal in driving adoption and embedding Assist into daily OR workflows.
Now one year after kick-off, more than 130 staff members across all 12 surgical service lines have been activated, with over 110 monthly active users—clear indicators of the platform’s value and trust within the hospital. At the time of writing, over 600 protocols have been published.
Impact
To measure the impact of Assist, Incision conducted baseline (T0) and follow-up (T1) surveys with OR staff over a six-month period.
88% of OR staff felt more confident in key perioperative tasks, including patient preparation, equipment setup, and familiarity with surgical steps.
100% agreed they could access critical information faster with Assist.
90% found that Assist significantly eased orientation of new and traveling staff.
92% reported that Assist helped increase job satisfaction.
92% said they would recommend Assist to colleagues at other hospitals.
Following a rapid rollout across the initial four specialties, Assist is now implemented hospital-wide across all 12 surgical service lines. Usage data shows consistent engagement both during and outside office hours, supporting both elective and emergency cases.
Building on this success, Haga has expanded its Assist users to include anesthesia professionals, aligning workflows and promoting standardization across their perioperative teams. By improving confidence, strengthening orientation, and adding to a culture of wellbeing and support, Assist will continue to help these teams deliver safe, efficient, high-acuity surgical care—24/7.
