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robotic prostatectomies


Guest lisnek

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Guest lisnek

hi - any urology PAs assisting with this procedure? i am contemplating taking a job with with a Uro group as a surgical PA. one of the things they want me to do is go to a 2day seminar/workshop on training for laparoscopic robotic prostatectomy. what does it entail? i realize the surgeon is at the console working the robot, but what does the PA do? they obviously have other surgeries for me to assist on.

 

i can't imagine standing there and "suctioning" for 3 hours, watching the robot - i think i would literally die.

 

any insight or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

lk

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I assume this is talking about using the Da Vinci system. I've worked on a handful of these for cardiac procedures. It's intersting from a technical standpoint, but not very exciting. We (PAs) are there to create port sites, interchange instruments on the arms, postion the camera, and closing/drains.

 

I'm interested to hear the urologic spin on it, but the operating surgeon gets to have all the fun.

 

I started a thread called "Do The Robot" in the Surgery forum several months back. It has some photos and info.

 

Good luck......

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Guest zulu62

My daughter is an OR tech, I heard her talking about doing some cases with this device the other day. I'll ask her about it

 

A sign of getting old. I have to consult a 21 y/o kid now.

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  • 2 years later...

are any other Urology PAs first assisting on Robotic cases? (yes, da Vinci)

 

just curious...

 

am dreading my yearly eval - not due to poor performance, as that has never been an issue. just the dreaded "negotiation." it seems that to be trained on such a specialty and licensed through the BME (which oregon req'd), we should be compensated higher?

 

i am wondering how many PAs first assist on the robotic cases? see my poll, too...

 

and, yes, i will be armed with all my AAPA data, blah blah blah for my eval...

 

any thoughts/input would be greatly apprec

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  • 2 years later...

I started in Urology doing robotic cases (Da Vinci is the only robotic system) 9 months ago. Cases are primarily prostatectomies (simple and radical), nephrectomies (partial and radical) and miscellaneous (adrenalectomies, abdominal aortic tumor resection and even an orchiectomy for an undescended testicle). No formal training, just on the job. Initially very challenging assisting because of the difficulty in ensuring you don't injure any bowel or vessels in the peritoneum with the laparascopic instruments. If you have ever placed and removed alligator clips on the renal arteries and veins during a partial nephrectomy, then you'll know what I mean.

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  • 4 months later...

I have worked in Urology but not with robotics. I did work with a colon rectal surgeon and we did robotic colon resections mostly low and very low anterior resections and rectopexies. He placed his sites on the abdomen then sat at the console and did the dissection. I sat at the table and did the resection, clipped vessels, retract and whatever needed to be done. It was cool but I left and went into interventional radiology which I enjoy.

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  • 1 year later...

I am a new Robotics PA who will be first assisting and I am also the Robotics Coordinator for our forthcoming program.  Does anybody work as a Robotics First Assist and/or Robotics Coordinator?  Can anybody help me with a sample FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT for this position?  My employer is pretty much leaving all the responsibilities to me to build this position and the program from the ground up.  Any help would be greatly appreciated...

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I am a new Robotics PA who will be first assisting and I am also the Robotics Coordinator for our forthcoming program.  Does anybody work as a Robotics First Assist and/or Robotics Coordinator?  Can anybody help me with a sample FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT for this position?  My employer is pretty much leaving all the responsibilities to me to build this position and the program from the ground up.  Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Or even just a job description would be helpful...

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  • 1 month later...

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