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Surgical Robots Cut Training Time Down From 80 Sessions To 30 Minutes (theguardian.com)
From a report: It is the most exacting of surgical skills: tying a knot deep inside a patient's abdomen, pivoting long graspers through keyhole incisions with no direct view of the thread. Trainee surgeons typically require 60 to 80 hours of practice, but in a mock-up operating theatre outside Cambridge, a non-medic with just a few hours of experience is expertly wielding a hook-shaped needle -- in this case stitching a square of pink sponge rather than an artery or appendix.
The feat is performed with the assistance of Versius, the world's smallest surgical robot, which could be used in NHS operating theatres for the first time later this year if approved for clinical use. Versius is one of a handful of advanced surgical robots that are predicted to transform the way operations are performed by allowing tens or hundreds of thousands more surgeries each year to be carried out as keyhole procedures. The Versius robot cuts down the time required to learn to tie a surgical knot from more than 100 training sessions, when using traditional manual tools, to just half an hour, according to Slack.
The feat is performed with the assistance of Versius, the world's smallest surgical robot, which could be used in NHS operating theatres for the first time later this year if approved for clinical use. Versius is one of a handful of advanced surgical robots that are predicted to transform the way operations are performed by allowing tens or hundreds of thousands more surgeries each year to be carried out as keyhole procedures. The Versius robot cuts down the time required to learn to tie a surgical knot from more than 100 training sessions, when using traditional manual tools, to just half an hour, according to Slack.
Cutting and sewing is the easiest part of being a surgeon. Knowing when and where to cut, what to sew, and what to do when you cut or sew the wrong thing - that's what's hard about it.
I'm an anesthesiologist. i've watched a lot of surgeries, and I could do a few of them - if I had a surgeon on the phone to walk me through them. There's a reason that a general surgery residency is five years long, and it's not because it takes that long to learn how to tie a knot.
Your comment does not surprise me at all.
It reminds me of people who mistakenly think that learning the vocabulary words of programming (a programming language) makes one a professional programmer. Lile most subjects, learning the vocabulary words (language) is rather a prerequisite to learning the art and science of what it's used for.
In my field, reducing the time required to learn the mechanics means people can instead spend that time on learning the hard parts. Some languages are very consistent, and rather small, so they are easy to learn. Some are inconsistent, with functions like AddArray() paired with array_remove(). Time spent memorizing the eccentricities of the language is time not spent learning design patterns, or anti-patterns, or algorithmic analysis.
I suppose if surgeons can spend 60 less hours learning to tie a knot blindfolded, they can instead spend that time learning something else.
That's why I think the arguments about "public" or "private" are rather silly...... It's better to evaluate individual proposals to see what is better. Some people think "single payer" is magic that will make everything, better, but it's not. Some people think the free market is magic that will make everything better, but it's not. Clearly we need regulation, but what type of regulation exactly? Each regulation needs to be evaluated on its own merits (and good luck with your health problems).
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Bring on the AI diagnosis, remote-viewed autosurgery please.
Agree, but:
;-)
...
SystemW: Knife cut last muscle holding heart in place.
SystemW: Remove knife.
SystemW: Automatic WSS snapshot.
SystemW: Hand successfully grasped, removed heart.
SystemW: Old heart released over receiving bin.
SystemW: New heart picked up.
SystemW: New heart placed in patient.
SystemW: Windows forced updates occurring. ETA: 20 minutes.
SystemW: Windows forced updates occurring. ETA: 22 minutes.
SystemW: Windows update failure. System restore in progress.
SystemW: System restore successful, resuming operations.
SystemW: Hand out of place! Reoriented.
SystemW: Hand successfully grasped, removed heart.
SystemW: Old heart released over receiving bin.
SystemW: New heart picked up.
SystemW: NOTE: heart is lighter than expected.
SystemW: New heart placed in patient.
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?