To address this, the SCH team, in conjunction Virtual surgeries from SCH are now streamed
with Stryker Mako, has now created another on average of once a week. Instead of being
way for surgeons to observe Mako robotic- able to have only one surgeon participate in a
assisted surgeries in real-time by outfitting an live OR, virtual surgeries expand the training
OR with cameras and microphones to create opportunity to multiple surgeons as well as
“virtual surgeries.” These virtual surgeries can hospital administrators, at the same time and
be viewed through multiple different camera in the same room, providing multiple benefits.
angles and participants can interact with the For example, many surgeons would naturally
surgeon live to ask technical questions. welcome the chance to have access to the
They can be simultaneously streamed to a latest in surgical technology such as Mako,
conference room in Mississippi, California but some hospital administrators may not
or beyond. immediately understand the value proposition
of the technology. Hospital administrator
completed, SCH had the opportunity
to purchase the new commercial software
application, which would enable the robotic
arm already being utilized for SCH’s robotic
partial knee and hip joint replacement
surgeries to do full knee replacements.
During the fall of 2016, Dr. Marchand officially
launched the world’s first commercial release
of the robotic full knee replacement procedure
and started surgeries on patients outside of
the study. The team has now done about 600
Mako-assisted robotic total knees, and the
orthopedic surgeons at South County have
performed about 6,000 total joint replacement
procedures with Mako robotic-assisted
technology to date.
USING VIRTUAL SURGERIES TO
EXPAND ROBOTIC-ASSISTED
TRAINING
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CURRENT FALL 2017
personnel are not credentialed to be in the
procedure as detailed as orthopedic surgery OR during a live surgery, but now with Mako,
and SCH relies on OSHEAN’s redundant they’re given the ability to experience the
Internet connection to provide the high-quality surgery virtually along with multiple surgeons
network connection needed for these live at different skill levels providing an excellent
streaming events. OSHEAN’s Beacon 2.0 opportunity for all to ask questions, interact
network, one of the most advanced optical and learn about the technology and tools.
networks in the country, provides OSHEAN From an educational perspective, this is
members such as SCH with a highly tremendously valuable.
Due to the fact that Dr. Marchand and the manageable, highly redundant, standards-
team at SCH have become leaders in this based platform for a true service
field and have done such a large number of provider-grade network.
robotic-assisted orthopedic procedures, SCH
has welcomed many colleagues from locations
throughout the U.S. and the world, including
Australia, China, Germany and Italy, among South County Hospital
others, who have come to watch these South County Health is the preeminent resource for health
surgeries to learn and observe the new in Washington County, RI, and beyond. Supporting community-
robotic-assisted procedures first hand. based initiatives that improve health, it encompasses four Joint
However, a surgeon’s time is precious and it Commission-accredited healthcare entities. Together, they
can be difficult for them to be away from their provide a continuum of care and comprehensive range of
patients for several days at a time, and there is
a limit to how many can be in the OR to observe
a live surgery.
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Every detail counts when live streaming a
advanced inpatient, outpatient and home health services.
For more information, please visit:
www.southcountyhealth.org
Stronger Together
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