JACKSON, MI - It looks like a tablet.

But instead of connecting to headphones, the wires protruding from this new device at Henry Ford Allegiance Health connects to stickers - which are attached to the arms and legs of patients undergoing surgery.

The new device is called a Sentio generation 2 neuromonitoring system. And Jackson's hospital is the first in the nation to use it.

The minimally-invasive technology can offer patients a faster recovery, less blood loss and a shorter hospital stay, according to a HFAH press release. Surgeons began using it in Jackson in October.

"While we're placing our instrumentation, we're able to better assess that we're in the correct place," said Dr. Amritraj Loganathan, a neurosurgeon at HFAH.

The Sentio is primarily used during spine surgeries to decompress nerves. Accelerometers in the stickers can detect subtle muscle twitches - which are then shown on the screen. This shows which nerves are firing and what they're specific functions are, Loganathan said.

What excites Loganathan is the hospital's plan to lead studies, in expectation of finding ways to expand the tool's usage. Loganathan believes it could help surgeons assess how healthy a nerve is.

Right now, they must rely on a patient's pain assessment to determine if the nerve was successfully decompressed during surgery.

"This gives us a better way to objectively define if we've done a good job," Loganathan said.

Direct benefits are already present, said Dr. Frank La Marca, HFAH neurosurgeon and medical director of neurosurgery. Because complications can be spotted earlier on, nerve injuries have decreased "dramatically" since they started using the tool, La Marca said.

The hospital didn't have to pay for the new tool - on top of its initial costs for the first-generation tool - and the actual cost of the Sentio is considered "protected information," hospital officials said.

Unlike some technology, the second-generation Sentio doesn't require an extra technician or remote neurologist during surgery, Loganathan said.

Johnson & Johnson bought Sentio and developed the newest version of the technology to be more surgeon friendly, La Marca said.

HFAH had been using the first generation Sentio system, which Henry Ford Health System orthopedic spine surgeon Dr. Stephen Bartol helped develop. Such connections with the company and HFAH's use of the first-generation tool led to the hospital being chosen to pioneer the new technology, Loganathan said.