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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.
If anyone read the summary and is wondering why Slack is mentioned as an authority here, Slack is the last name of one of the doctors involved, not a crappy IRC replacement.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
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.
My point is that it doesn't take anything like 60 hours of training to learn how to tie a knot blindfolded. Surgical "robots" (really, they are just manipulator arms, or waldoes) make surgery a lot more expensive, but they really don't offer much. Standard laparoscopy is much faster and just as good for the vast majority of procedures. There are some cases where the extra expense might be justified (prostatectomies come to mind here), but usually? No.
It's all about billing. Example: hysterectomies are a pretty common procedure. Unless you have abnormal anatomy, you can have your uterus removed through your vagina. Zero visible incisions, and it's a quick procedure. But it doesn't pay at all - the surgeon can get more money for doing it laparoscopically and leaving you with scars (and usually taking longer to do it). It also costs the hospital more money in supplies (and they don't get paid extra for that).
Just an FYI, if your wife wants her uterus out (let's face it, if there ever were women here, they're almost all gone), find someone who will do it transvaginally. Easier recovery, no scars.