A Mount Dora, FL, doctor has created a firestorm over a sign posted on his office door that reads, "If you voted for Obama . . . seek urologic care elsewhere." Jack Cassell, MD, a registered Republican, believes the sharply partisan, healthcare overhaul pushed through by Democratic members of Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama will harm his practice and thus his patients, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Cassell said he has not refused to treat any patient for his or her political views and does not quiz patients about their politics, but he also does not plan to take the sign down.
Striking registered nurses and health professionals called on Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia to document credentials of the 850 temporary workers recruited to tend to patients since the walkout began March 31. The union said it had received "dozens of reports" of "problems with patient care," Maureen May, president of the Temple Nurses Union, said. Sandy Gomberg, Temple's chief executive officer, said that the hospital's 400 doctors and 3,000 nonstriking employees were caring for patients as always and that the union was attempting to "frighten" the public and distract the focus from the "real issues" of wages and benefits, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Miami-based Jackson Health System has started a new Web site seeking community support. In a letter to employees, Chief Executive Eneida Roldan announced the creation of SupportJackson.org "for employees and the community to find out more information about Jackson's financial situation and how they can help. Please encourage your friends and family members to visit the site and see how they can support Jackson and save the health of our community." The Web site includes sample letters from employees, caregivers and members of the community that can be sent to political leaders.
An infectious virus linked to two diseases is drawing the attention of public-health officials, who are investigating the potential threat to the nation's blood supply. It isn't clear if the virus, known as XMRV, poses a danger, and public-health officials say there isn't evidence of spreading infection. But because of concern over the potential for widespread infection and preliminary evidence that XMRV is transmitted similarly to HIV, officials are quickly trying to determine if action is needed to protect the blood supply, the Wall Street Journal reports.
LifePoint Hospitals, Inc., the private, rural hospital chain, has purchased nonprofit Clark Regional Medical Center in Winchester, KY, with a promise to build a new $60 million hospital, LifePoint said in a media release.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal is expected to close April 30.
LifePoint, headquartered in Brentwood, TN, agreed to spend about $60 million to build and equip a new, 132,000-square-foot hospital to replace the 100-bed community hospital that was built in 1967. The new hospital is expected to open about two years after construction begins. LifePoint operates 47 acute-care hospitals in 17 states.
"We are excited about the prospect of working with Clark Regional and the Winchester community to build a new healthcare facility to serve the needs of residents," LifePoint CEO William F. Carpenter III said in the media release. "Clark Regional has physicians and staff who are passionately committed to their community. We look forward to having the hospital as part of the LifePoint family and working together to find new ways to grow and serve more people in the East Central Kentucky region."
Clark CEO Bob Fraraccio said LifePoint's "mission and values are very consistent with ours and that was critical to our decision."
"LifePoint operates non-urban hospitals very similar to Clark Regional and has a significant presence in the Lexington area. Most importantly, LifePoint is committed to delivering quality services to meet the needs of our community now and in the future," Fraraccio said. "We believe this partnership is a great fit and will be a strong asset for our community."
Robotic-assisted surgeries can be good for patients and good for the hospital's bottom line, but a hang up for medical staffs is that it's not easy to train surgeons on these systems.
That's where the new Robotic Surgical Simulator, or RoSS, comes in. Designed by researchers from the University at Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), RoSS uses simulation technology borrowed from the airline industry with the goal of providing a relatively inexpensive and quick training solution for today's surgeons.
RoSS wasn't designed specifically for da Vinci surgical training, one of the most popular systems on the market. Rather, it teaches the techniques employed by all robotic surgical systems.
Credentials committee will have to wait a little while before reviewing the competency data from RoSS-trained surgeons. Orders for the finished RoSS modules are scheduled to be delivered in January 2011.
Although the makers of RoSS came from varied backgrounds, the training problems facing robotics-assisted surgeons were clear to all.
"Robotic-assisted surgery systems are relatively new and right now there's no systematic way of training surgeons for the robot other than going to the animal lab, for instance, or shadowing, where a doctor gets a chance to sit with the experienced surgeon," says Thenkurussi ("Kesh") Kesavadas, PhD, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Buffalo and head of its Virtual Reality Lab.
Even the technique of shadowing another surgeon can have its disadvantages, especially when it comes to training on the popular da Vinci Surgical System.
"The problem right now is it's a $2 million robot, it's in the OR, the administration wants you to do more cases rather than training people, and a lot of surgeons feel intimidated by it," says Khurshid A. Guru, MD, director of the Center for Robotic Surgery and attending surgeon in RPCI's Department of Urology. "You need to have a simulation-based curriculum."
How does this simulation training device work? RoSS training is divided into three levels:
Motor skills section. This basic section teaches surgeons the hand-eye coordination skills needed to work with the robotic program through a series of exercises.
Clinical applications. After the surgeon masters the basic maneuverability skills, he or she learns how to do different elements of a procedure, such as working with a needle.
Procedures. Surgeons are called on to apply the lessons they learned in the first two sections to work on simulated procedures. Currently, the two procedures RoSS simulates are hysterectomies and prostatectomy because those are the most widely performed robotic surgery procedures.
"The simulation has been designed in such a way that with a five-minute introduction, anybody could sit on it and start working," says Kesavadas.
The five-minute introduction is built into the simulation unit and teaches the practitioner how to use RoSS through audio, video, and text instructions. It teaches the RoSS user similar to the way a trained robotics surgeon would teach a new practitioner by first pointing out the various elements and instructing the user to touch them.
If a medical staff wants to increase the training of its robotics surgeons in the future, the devices' creators hope one option will be to use the RoSS.
"In certain metropolitan areas, it's easier to find good surgeons. But you look at community hospitals and hospitals in rural areas, if they buy a robot, it's very tough to get a surgeon to use it, and that is probably what has stopped its explosive growth," says Kesavadas.
"Simulation is really one of the keys to overcoming this problem."
For more information ,download HCPro's Clinical Privilege White Paper: Robotic-assisted surgery - Procedure 421, which is available online at www.CredentialingResourceCenter.com (subscription required).
Emily Berry is an associate editor for Briefings on Credentialing and Credentialing Resource Center Connection, and manages the Credentialing Resource Center. You can reach her at eberry@hcpro.com.