St. Joseph's Hospital In Riverview Has Received Center Of Excellence In Robotic Surgery

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — St. Joseph’s Hospital-South has received accreditation as a Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery by the Surgical Review Corporation (SRC), a news release said.

The designation signifies that St. Joseph’s Hospital-South robotic surgery services provide the highest-quality of care to patients. To earn Robotic Surgery Center of Excellence designation, St. Joseph’s Hospital-South underwent a series of inspections and visits where all aspects of the surgical program were examined and scrutinized and health outcomes of patients were reviewed. The inspection and visit process involved physicians, nurses and administrators involved with robotic surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South.

The accreditation process is done every three years and St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s accreditation is through 2024.

Surgeons at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South have performed nearly 1,200 robotic surgeries, according to the hospital staff.

“Accreditation represents the dedication of our hospital to provide superior care with the most modern technology and practices,” Phil Minden, St. Joseph’s Hospital-South president, said. “We continue to strive and assess our patient care to bring the best possible outcomes for our surgery patients. This accreditation is a manifestation of that commitment.”

The surgeon operates the robot from a console that has four interactive arms and a high-resolution screen that projects 3-D images of the surgical site, health officials said. The surgeon manually operates the instruments utilizing their hands and fingers. When the surgeon moves, the instruments respond precisely to those movements in real time. The instruments work identically to the movement of a human arm, human elbow and a human wrist, however with an enhanced range of motion.

Robotic surgery provides superior dexterity, enhanced vision and improved surgical access compared to conventional minimally invasive surgery or traditional open surgery. The robot navigates a precise approach to areas that traditional surgical instruments are unable to reach.

Other benefits of robotic surgery used by St. Joseph’s Hospital-South surgeons include, according to St. Joseph's:

• Precise surgical incisions, allowing unhealthy tissue to be removed without affecting surrounding healthy tissue
• Smaller incisions that prevents less trauma and pain to a patient’s body
• Smaller incisions that alleviates blood loss and lowers infection risk
• Robotic surgeries may result in a shorter length of stay in the hospital
• Recovery from robotic surgery may be quicker due to smaller incisions
• Smaller scars result from robotic surgeries