Editor's Note Patients treated at hospitals located in competitive regional markets were more likely to have robotic-assisted surgical procedures, this study finds. However, when the analysis was limited just to hospitals that performed robotic-assisted surgery, competition was no longer associated with the use of robotic technology. In addition, hospital financial status had…

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Editor's Note Women who had robotically assisted hysterectomies were 24% to 32% more likely to return to the hospital for follow-up care, including readmission, emergency department care, or an outpatient department procedure, finds this study. Common reasons for follow-up care included: surgical complications hospital-acquired infections postoperative pain pulmonary embolisms digestive…

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Editor's Note The ECRI Institute on January 4 released its annual Top 10 list of important technology related issues that hospital and health system leaders need to pay close attention to this year. The list includes: Medical device cybersecurity (eg, hacking into pacemakers) Miniature leadless pacemakers Changing landscape of robotic…

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Editor's Note ECRI Institute is offering a new robotic surgery planning service that gives hospitals an independent second opinion when starting or expanding a robotic surgery program.  The service focuses on:  Strategic planning  Quality and training  Financial assessment.   The high costs, risks, and questionable patient outcomes associated with robotic…

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Editor's Note Robotic-assisted cardiac surgery had significantly reduced length of stay, complications, and mortality compared with nonrobotic surgery in this study. Robotic-assisted had a higher median cost than nonrobotic surgery ($39,030 vs $36,340). The results show that robotic-assisted is as safe as nonrobotic cardiac surgery and offers surgeons an additional…

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Robotic surgery has been widely adopted by hospitals during the past decade, but its safety is still unclear because of a haphazard system for reporting complications, Johns Hopkins researchers say. A new study led by Martin Makary, MD, finds that of 1 million robotic procedures performed since 2000, only 245…

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A Philadelphia hospital is now using the ViKY, developed by EndoControl in France, a single-arm device that is much smaller and easier to use than the da Vinci surgical robot and doesn't require a large OR or OR team for set up, notes Diane Robertson of ECRI Institute. Another focus…

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Robotic surgery has become part of the OR landscape, partly driven by marketing, as competing hospitals purchase robots and advertise them to consumers eager for the latest technology. "It's definitely a consumer-driven health care offering," says Lynda Petty, RN, director of perioperative education, policy, and process improvement at The Ohio…

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Penelope the robot may be able to assemble and take apart trays. Penelope, the first surgical robot able to hand instruments and assist at surgery is transferring to another department—central sterile reprocessing— and her name will be Penelope CS. Penelope, named for Ulysses's wife in the mythic Odyssey by Homer,…

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