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The Economics of Prefilled Syringes - August 2017 - Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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They say they can do it faster and with less hassle setting up the equip- ment, and still achieve the same outcomes. That's true in a lot of cases, but as noted, for the many who haven't been exposed to, or mastered, the laparoscopic approach, the robot provides an opportunity for sig- nificantly better outcomes. And incidentally, if you have a dedicated team that does only robots and if you stack your cases back to back and do them in one day, you can get to the point where you're just as efficient, maybe even more efficient, with the robot as without it. Meanwhile, the robots are getting better and better. They're more precise than they used to be, they're more user friendly, they're easier to dock, they have lighter cameras and they have better visualization. What they're not getting, unfortunately, is less expensive, at least so far. But indications are that the current go-to robot may soon have some competition in the U.S. If so, it will be interesting to see what sort of effect that will have. Not Star Wars I've never had a patient ask to have surgery done by the robot. When I offer them robotic surgery, they're more likely to say, But I want you to do it, picturing, I assume, R2D2 or C3PO hovering over the operat- ing table, scalpel in mechanical claw. But they're OK with it when I explain that I'll be the one controlling the robot. And they're thrilled when the robot lets me minimize their pain and scarring and more quickly get them back to their everyday lives. OSM A U G U S T 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 9 1 Dr. Towfigh (drtowfigh@beverlyhillshernia-center.com) is a hernia and laparoscopic surgery specialist at the Beverly Hills (Calif.) Hernia Center.

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