By LINDA CHION KENNEY
St. Joseph’s Hospital-South has been designated a Center for Excellence in Robotic Surgery.
The Center of Excellence accreditation comes from the Surgical Review Corporation (SRC), a nonprofit, patient safety organization that provides accreditations for surgical facilities and medical professionals.
Surgeons at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South have performed nearly 1,200 robotic surgeries, according to hospital officials. Robotic-assisted surgeries are detailed in a 44-item list, broken down into the following categories: gynecological, gynecologic oncology, urologic, colorectal, thoracic and general. The collective list of procedures includes bladder prolapse repair, abdominal hysterectomy, partial and radical nephrectomy, colostomy, lymph node biopsy, hernia repair and stomach cancer treatment.
A surgical robot at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South in Riverview, which recently received Surgical Review Corporation accreditation as a Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery
The SRC accreditation is good for three years. The St. Joseph’s Hospital-South accreditation runs through 2024.
“Accreditation represents the dedication of our hospital to provide superior care with the most modern technology and practices,” said Phil Minden, president of St. Joseph’s Hospital-South, in a prepared statement. “We continue to strive and assess our patient care to bring the best possible outcomes for our surgery patients. This accreditation is a manifestation of that commitment.”
En route to SRC accreditation, physicians, nurses and administrators involved with robotics surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South underwent a series of inspections and visits where all aspects of the surgical program were examined and scrutinized and health outcomes of the patients reviewed, according to hospital officials.
Robotics surgery entails the surgeon operating the robot from a console that has four interactive arms and a high-resolution screen that projects three-dimensional images of the surgical site. The surgeon makes a move “and the instruments respond precisely to those movements in real time,” according to a hospital report on the process. “The instruments work identically to the movement of a human arm, human elbow and human wrist, however, with an enhanced range of motion.”
“Superior dexterity, enhanced vision and improved surgical access” are noted as the primary benefits of robotics surgery, as compared to “conventional, minimally invasive surgery or traditional open surgery.”
St. Joseph’s Hospital-South photos
Surgery team members with a surgical robot at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South in Riverview
The robot’s navigation entails “a precise approach to areas that traditional surgical instruments are unable to reach.”
Hospital officials note as well additional benefits of robotic surgery, including smaller incisions that lessen trauma and pain, alleviate blood loss and lower infection risk; smaller scars; and precise surgical incisions that allow for the removal of unhealthy tissue without affecting surrounding healthy tissue. Also noted are the possibility for shorter hospital stays and a quicker recovery time, due to smaller incisions.
To learn more about robotics-assisted surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital South, visit: www.baycare.org/hospitals/st-josephs-hospital-south/services/surgery/robotic-surgery/.
St. Joseph’s Hospital-South is part of Tampa Bay’s 15-hospital BayCare Health System, including South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City; St. Joseph’s Hospital-North in Lutz; and St. Joseph’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa.
St. Joseph’s Hospital-South is off Big Bend Road, at 6901 Simmons Loop. Call 813-302-8000.