by
Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | March 07, 2014
From the March 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
With the use of minimally invasive procedures steadily growing, the equipment that contributes to it will continue to be the future of the operating room.
Not all sunshine and roses
While these high-tech devices are advancing the way procedures are done, there are many challenges ahead.
In November, the FDA published a survey that included 11 surgeons who performed 70 to 600 surgeries with the da Vinci Surgical System. All of the respondents reported that learning to use the system is the biggest challenge because of the device’s complex user-interface.
They all reported that they received training, but they still required time to learn how to use the foot pedals, attain successful hand-eye coordination and perform surgeries without the ability to use their hands to feel tissue and organs or use sutures.
The da Vinci system has recently been making headlines because of the lawsuits filed against it for allegedly causing serious and sometimes fatal complications during surgery. Wright & Schulte LLC, a personal injury law firm, claims that part of the problem is inadequate training methods.
Lack of adequate training has become a serious concern. This issue has made it to ECRI Institute’s Top Ten Technology Hazards for 2014. “The hospitals kind of run the gamut when it comes to structuring these programs,” says Chris Schabowsky, program manager of the applied solutions group at ECRI Institute. “Some of them made a brilliant decision to purchase the robot and throw their surgical staff into the fire without providing the proper training and they ran into patient complications pretty quickly.”
Intuitive provides the initial training and will issue a certificate saying that the surgeon understands the system and has practice performing surgical tasks. After that, it’s the hospital’s decision to give the surgeon operating privileges, says Intuitive’s Mohr.
Dr. Enrico Benedetti conducted over 400 operations with the system and says he is “very pleased” with it. However, he is not pleased with the way some hospitals train their surgeons on it.
He says that after the initial training, hospitals usually require a surgeon from another hospital to come and proctor five surgeries. “After that, many hospitals will actually grant you privileges and there is no further need for training, I don’t think it’s prudent,” he says.
In his hospital, he takes a more personalized approach that involves prolonged supervision under an experienced surgeon within their own hospital. “It’s very careful monitoring that allows us to control the surgeon and make sure that we let them fly on their own when we are confident that they acquired the proper skill,” he says.
