Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

3-Minute Turnover - Outpatient Surgery Magazine - December 2018

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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1. Troubleshooting training. What if the arm locks up? What if we lose power? What if the patient makes an unexpected move- ment that disrupts the entire procedure? What if the table moves while the trocar is in the patient? These what-if questions are invaluable to rehearse with your sur- geon and staff. After all, a minimally invasive robotic surgery can become an emergency open procedure in an instant. You want to keep your OR team calm, cool and collected during a robotic emer- gency — and ensure they perform like a well-oiled machine. 2. Staff accordingly. A typical robotic case generally involves more than 5 team members, as well as support staff from sterile pro- cessing and the distribution/sterile processing department. We're also big believers in using physician assistants (PAs) who are directly assigned to the robot. The PAs are a godsend because not only are they experts on the technical aspects, they're also able to move the big, bulky robots with ease. Before the PAs, our nurses or techs would move the robots. Because the machinery was so heavy and cumber- some, some staff got hurt and wound up on disability in the pre-PA era. You also need to have adequate back-up personnel at-the-ready in the event of a problem. For example, if anesthesia runs into a prob- lem with the lines, extra scrub techs and circulators must be available to come in right away. One thing that can't be overstated is the team element of successful robotic surgeries. The entire OR team — from surgeons to anesthesi- ologists to nurses to techs — must communicate like a single organ- ism, ready to adapt and react without delay. That means everybody must be on high alert. Even during the most mundane processes, like when you're charting with your back turned, you've got to keep your 1 1 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8

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