![]() Micromate™: superior usability with no OR tech-support required ![]() With limited access to the surgical theatres, sales representatives have been barred from the operating room, and out they will remain in some institutions, especially in cases where this was a paid and onerous service contracted by the institutions themselves. However, COVID-19 has created a tectonic shift in how technical support occurs. This has made them crucial assets for physicians to make sure they can offer the best in their practice. These specialists know technology in and out and are knowledgeable about how they are supposed to work within the clinical workflow. Having clinical support specialists in the OR, on the other hand, has been a safe haven for standardizing results and elevating outcomes of robots in the market. The practical outcome of training programs is having surgeons spend hundreds of hours in surgical simulators and phantoms, aiming at learning all the technical and engineering aspects of the technology, so they can continue to do their own job in hopes they have mastered the buttons, surgical views, and screws well enough not to compromise results. Given the high variation in performance between different users, platforms, and specialties, every manufacturer invests in building standardized training programs for its users, irrespective of their procedures and experience, while at the same time providing technical support in the OR. This is mostly due to changes in the clinical workflow stemming from the introduction of robotic solutions. ![]() There is anecdotal evidence of a steeper learning curve amongst newer indications, such as cardiology applications, with 6-12 months of training required.This requires, however, the presence of clinical support specialists in the OR. In 2019, orthopedic surgeons using the MAKO robot have reported a learning curve of 7 cases for clinical workflow integration, but no learning curve effect for implant accuracy positioning on total-knee arthroplasty surgeries.A study published by the British Journal of Urology found that when utilizing the da Vinci robotic system for prostatectomy cases, blood loss only dropped significantly after 50 procedures and that a decrease in the complication rate only occurred after 150 cases.Inconsistent data is out on this subject: Some tech-savvy users may become confident in using the devices after just 20 cases when proper enabling technology is in place. Regardless of the quality of training they had, surgeons are expected to take up to 100 cases to become proficient in using surgical robots. Training and technical support in the OR are still problematic One of the key aspects of this equation is training: the absence of it, and how steep the learning curve is. This being said, the jury is still out on whether the additional cost of robotics over traditional methods carries sufficient additional benefits. It is generally accepted that robotic surgical systems enable minimally invasive surgery and improve outcomes, including shorter recovery times, less scarring, and reduced healthcare costs. ![]() Our Value-Based Robotics series advances towards the actual clinical use of robotics and issues concerning practicality and surgeon onboarding and training.
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