Key result
Increasing the number of capable surgeons and having a properly educated perioperative nursing team can decrease the per-procedure costs of robotic-assisted surgeries.
Educating surgical teams and increasing surgeon proficiency are key modifiable factors to offset the high fixed costs of robotic surgical systems by increasing case volume.
May support team training investments to lower robotic costs; leaves open prospective validation before practice change.
In 2000, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the da Vinci Surgical System® for use in the United States. Since that time, the number of surgical robotic systems throughout the United States has continued to grow. The costs for using the system include the initial purchase ($1 million to $2.3 million) plus annual maintenance fees ($100,000 to $150,000) and the cost of limited-use or disposable instruments. Increasing the number of procedures that are performed using the robotic system can decrease the per-procedure costs. Two modifiable factors that contribute to increasing the annual caseload are increasing the number of surgeons capable of using the system and having a properly educated perioperative nursing team. An educated surgical team decreases turnover time, facilitates proper flow of each surgical procedure, and is able to actively and passively solve intraoperative problems.
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Nayeemuddin et al. (2013) conducted a review in Robotic-assisted procedures. Increasing capable surgeons and educating perioperative nursing team was evaluated on Per-procedure costs. Increasing the number of capable surgeons and having a properly educated perioperative nursing team can decrease the per-procedure costs of robotic-assisted surgeries.
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