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These are the core concepts you’ll encounter throughout ORbit. Understanding them helps you get the most out of the platform.

Milestones

A milestone is a specific point in the surgical workflow where a timestamp is recorded. Examples include “Patient in room,” “Incision,” “Closing,” and “Patient out of room.” Each facility defines its own set of milestones. These are tracked per case — when a case is created, ORbit pre-populates the expected milestones with empty timestamps that get filled in as the case progresses.
Milestones always reference facility_milestone_id, not the global milestone_type_id. This is a critical architectural detail for anyone building integrations.

Phases

A phase is a named grouping of consecutive milestones that represents a stage of surgery. For example:
PhaseMilestones
Pre-OpPatient in room, Anesthesia start
Intra-OpIncision, Closing
Post-OpPatient out of room, Room cleaned
Phases are defined by their boundary milestones (start and end). Adjacent phases share boundary milestones — the end of one phase is the start of the next.

Templates

A milestone template defines the complete set of milestones and phases tracked for a case. Templates support:
  • Required milestones that every template must include (locked, cannot be removed)
  • Custom milestones added by the facility
  • Phase grouping with drag-and-drop ordering

Template cascade

When ORbit creates a case, it resolves which template to use:
1

Surgeon override

If the surgeon has a template override for this procedure, use that template.
2

Procedure template

Otherwise, if the procedure type has an assigned template, use that.
3

Facility default

Otherwise, use the facility’s default template.
The resolved template is stamped on the case at creation time and doesn’t change if templates are modified later.

ORbit Score

The ORbit Score is a composite metric (0–100) measuring a surgeon’s operational efficiency. It uses four weighted pillars:
PillarWeightWhat it measures
Profitability30%Margin per minute compared to peers in the same procedure cohort
Consistency25%Variability of case duration per procedure type
Schedule adherence25%How closely actual timing matches the booked schedule
Availability20%Prep-to-incision gap and surgeon delay rate
ORbit uses median absolute deviation (MAD) instead of standard deviation. MAD is more resistant to outliers, which is important when a single extremely long case shouldn’t tank a surgeon’s score.

Scoring methodology

  • Three MAD bands classify performance into severity tiers
  • Volume weighting adjusts for case volume differences across procedure types
  • Graduated decay emphasizes recent performance over older data
  • Grade thresholds translate the numeric score into letter grades (A+ through F)

Flags

A flag is an automated alert raised when a case metric falls outside expected thresholds. Flags help surface operational issues without manual review.

How flags work

  1. Rules define what triggers a flag — a metric, a comparison operator, and a threshold value
  2. Detection runs when a case is completed and validated
  3. Severity is assigned per rule (low, medium, high)
  4. Pattern analysis identifies recurring flags across surgeons, rooms, or time periods

Flag rule types

ORbit supports rules based on:
  • Timing metrics — milestone intervals, total duration, turnover time
  • Financial metrics — cost per case, profit margin, reimbursement
  • Quality metrics — data completeness, milestone recording gaps

Soft deletes

ORbit uses soft deletes across 20+ tables. Records are never physically removed — they’re marked with is_active = false and a deleted_at timestamp. All queries filter by is_active = true by default.

Facility scoping

Every query in ORbit filters by facility_id. This is enforced at the database level through row-level security (RLS) policies. Users can only see data belonging to their assigned facility.

Next steps