Healthcare Directory

system provides true depth of field, versus the two-dimen- sional picture simpler laparoscopic cameras provide. That extra bit of detail makes a big difference when surgeons are operating on delicate organs and tissue. Paul Sparzak, D.O., trained on the da Vinci robot early in The console's three-dimensional/high-definition viewing his medical career. The Cape Fear Valley OB/GYN physician says it only took a few procedures before he knew robotics had a bright future in the operating room. "It lets us do really difficult cases more easily," says Dr. Sparzak. "There's nothing out there really like it." ferent tasks, such as cutting, cauterizing or grabbing tissue. The robot is so advanced that it even changes its own acces- sory tips from a nearby tray. Once the surgery procedure is mapped out, the robot automatically arms itself with the ap- propriate tips. One of the accessories is called an Endo-Wrist, which is Each of the robot's probe tips can be swapped out for dif- more maneuverable than the human wrist, because it can rotate 360-degrees. This makes manipulating needles and knives inside the patient almost limitless. Samuel Clemmons, RN, BSN, CNOR, is the Patient Care Leonardo da Vinci may have been a creative thinker way ahead of his time, but he probably never imagined surgery being performed like this. Robotic surgery in general is experiencing explosive growth in American hospitals, with da Vincis capturing much of that growth. They have spread from just a few hundred operating rooms seven years ago to being used in nearly 1,400 today. And the beneficiaries of that growth are patients. The da Vinci uses small pinscher-like laparoscopic probes Other health systems have become true believers, as well. Manger for the Main Operating Room at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. He says members of his operating room staff have had to undergo weeks of training to fully learn the da Vinci's capabilities. The training is a worthwhile investment, he says, for such a high-tech piece of equipment. "It's simply amazing what you can see and do with it," on the ends of each of its arms that enter into the patient through tiny incisions, also known as ports. The incisions are less than the width of an adult thumbnail. As a result, the smaller incisions hurt less, bleed less, and are less likely to become infected. 24 | 2012 Medical & Dental Directory Clemmons says. "It's a state-of-the-art technology that the public will clamor for because it will allow them to recover that much quicker." This article was reprinted from the Summer 2011 Mak- ing Rounds with permission from Cape Fear Valley Health System.

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