Thoughts From First Surgery at Rush’s New Hospital
The ORs in Rushs new hospital building contain advanced communication features such as video conferencing.
Ear, nose and throat surgeon Dr. Guy Petruzzelli spent more time than he’s accustomed to in the operating room Monday morning during one of the first surgeries at the Tower, Rush University Medical Center’s new hospital. Not only didn’t he mind the extra time spent in the room, he considers it a giant step forward in patient care.
In one of the approximately 60 operations in the brand-new operating rooms at the Tower that day, Petruzzelli used a robotic procedure to remove a small tumor from the back of a patient’s throat. This requires specimen analysis by a pathologist, and prior to the move to the new hospital, Petruzzelli would have needed to leave the operating room (OR) to consult with the pathology department about the results.
But due to new technology available to him and the other surgeons at Rush at the new hospital building, his meetings with pathologists now happen through video communication after the specimen sample is sent to the pathology department in a pneumatic tube, a network of tubes that can propel special canisters with, for example, pathology specimens from surgery, to different locations at the Medical Center. Thanks to the video screens in the OR, Petruzzelli is able to see exactly what the pathologist is seeing under a microscope in real time, and can discuss the results “face to face. That saves precious time, improves communication, and it’s just one of the features of the Tower that had Petruzzelli so excited following his procedure.
“It’s very important for surgeons, especially cancer surgeons, to communicate with the pathologists,” Petruzzelli said. “We can have a conversation with the pathologists about what they’re seeing at that moment and have them describe that to us without leaving the operating room. That is really incredible.”
Petruzzelli also noted one of the other communication features of the new operating rooms. There are four high-definition monitors dispersed throughout the room, allowing everyone there to see what the surgeon is seeing while operating using microscopic video cameras.
“We can set that up these monitors so the surgical assistant, along with the scrub nurse — everyone in the room — can see what’s going on, and they can more quickly anticipate what the needs of the surgeon are,” Petruzzelli said.
Surgeons can also use the monitors for teaching residents and students in the room, and the images can be sent to other teaching hospitals around the world for educational needs.
Everyone viewing Petruzzelli’s procedure Monday morning saw a very safe surgery that was executed well. For that, Petruzzelli made sure to credit the nursing leadership, including the unit director of perioperative services, Leslie Wirtz, RN, and her team, which worked all day Saturday and Sunday to make sure the room’s equipment and other infrastructure was ready for a safe surgery.
“For the magnitude of the transition and change, it was really spectacular,” Petruzzelli said. “Things went very safely and very well.”
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