CSTAR offers Robotic Training Session to OR Nurses

Wednesday December 3, 2008

London, Ont. - A total of 7 operating room (OR) nurses from LHSC and SJHC London and a Physician Assistant from Hopital Sacre Coeur in Montreal attended a one day, hands-on robotic technical support training session at CSTAR.

LHSC OR nurse Michelle D’Amico works on the da Vinci camera.

The educational session was collaboratively developed by OR nurses from LHSC and SJHC and CSTAR’s education programming development team. The goal of the session was to increase the knowledge and skills of OR nurses for the day-to-day support of London’s city-wide robotic surgery program.

The session included a pre and post test, a didactic session on the history of robotics with cardiac robotic surgeon Dr. Bob Kiaii and 6 hours of hands-on techniques and troubleshooting training. “It is important to utilize the robotic experience that we have in London, and continue to build the knowledge and skills of an already outstanding robotic surgical team.” stated Dr Kiaii.

“I feel that every person in robotics should be coming to CSTAR and participating in this program, it is essential,” stated Physician Assistant Anne-Marie Louis XVI from Hopital Sacre Coeur in Montreal. “The opportunity to have some hands on time with the robot and the number of training exercises was very helpful for real world scenarios in the operating suite.”

"The CSTAR robotic training course was an excellent opportunity to build on my skills with the daVinci robot. The hands on sessions gave me the knowledge, skills and confidence to support the team in providing safe and competent care. I am excited to participate in this new and innovative means of perioperative nursing," stated Michelle D’Amico, an OR Nurse from University Hospital.

Also on hand to assist with the training was Eric Khairy, Director of Surgical Robotics Division from Minogue Medical. “As a company, we had the opportunity to collaborate and be part of a team that was imparting knowledge on our technology,” said Eric Khairy. “This was a great way for us to improve our relations with the participants.”

”This is the first training program of its kind in Canada. Through collaborative development of this internal training program at CSTAR, both LHSC and SJHC have enhanced London’s city-wide robotics surgery program and its capacity to deliver safe and competent robotic surgery care,” said John Parker, CSTAR’s Director. “That we were able to assist our partner from Montreal to achieve this same goal further underscores the value of this type of programming. We are already planning to offer an expanded version this program.”