2 8 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E A P R I L 2 0 1 7
will be surgeons who
choose to still do most
cases laparoscopically
and save the robot for
what they think will be
really tough cases. But
as every surgeon
knows, you can never
be 100% certain of
what you'll get with a
given patient. You
think you're going to
have a straightforward
gallbladder, but when
you get in, you find out the patient has had chronic inflammation for years and
the procedure is going to be a lot harder than you anticipated. That's why I work
under the assumption that any case might turn out to be challenging, and
always begin operating with the robot.
• Improved efficiencies. There's a misconception that the robot slows down
the surgical schedule. Surgical teams who don't use the robot tend to overesti-
mate how long it takes to get the ports into the patient and to attach the robot
to those ports. Using the newest system, we've been able to get docking times
down to about 40 or 45 seconds. We've also found that we can do hernias quick-
er with the robot than we could if we did them open. It all goes back to the
learning curve. We can now do 8 or more cases in a day by 5 p.m. It does, how-
ever, take some repetition and practice to get to that level of efficiency.
What happens between cases isn't that different from any other surgery. The
room is cleaned the way it would be after any procedure. A new case cart is
brought in. The special sterile covers that go over each of the robot's arms are
removed and replaced. Bring in the next patient, and you're ready to go.
• IN CONTROL From the comfort of the console, Dr. Heffner has a 3D view and fingertip control
of both the robot and the precise camera location.
Lima
Memorial
Health
System
&
Bruce
Works
of
Photo
Works
