needed to provide for our patients," says Ms. Fidler.
"It took several months of planning and meetings, but
also just a lot of hands-on interactions."
That support was key because Dr. Devin admits to
being somewhat particular when it comes to equip-
ment. "We have a beautiful surgical microscope and
there's a lot of new motion preservation technology
that we are looking into adding," he says.
The facility is also trialing virtual reality goggles
that are designed to ensure surgeons are making
cuts in the right location. "Some of the spinal sur-
gery techniques are very demanding, so the more
technology surgeons have to help them operate, the
more precise they can be," says Dr. Devin.
He says the primary goal with any spine surgery
is motion preservation, and he's currently perform-
ing cervical laminectomies, anterior cervical
fusions, cervical disc replacements, lumbar decom-
pressions and lumbar fusions.
While it's common for surgeons to have a major
say — or the ultimate decision — on the equipment
and instrumentation that's purchased, SOSI sur-
geons also had a major impact on the layout of the
facility, including the number of ORs they would
need to handle cases. "I had pretty significant input
into how the ORs would be designed, as did my col-
leagues," says Dr. Devin. "The key with spine is
making sure the ORs are big enough to house the
necessary equipment."
In the end, the facility settled on building two
large ORs, but there were discussions about fram-
ing out three ORs that were slightly smaller. Dr.
Devin says everyone ultimately agreed that they
wanted the space to perform a wide breadth of
complex cases, not just arthroscopic procedures.
The facility is also already looking into adding
and utilizing robotic technology in the near future.
"As we start to get into motion preservation and the
exact placements of disc replacements, we'll proba-
bly see similarities to what happened with knee
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