Robotic surgery program celebrates milestone

The Institute for Defense Robotic Surgical Education programcelebrated a significant milestone, training the 100th team on robotic surgeryat Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, in July.

This milestone is significant for Keesler’s InDORSE program,showing how far the curriculum has come since the program first stood up inMarch 2017 with just one robot. Now, InDORSE has acquired a second robot,allowing them to train more military surgical teams across the U.S. Departmentof Defense (DoD), as well as Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA).

The program continues to grow with plans to double itstraining capacity starting in July, and will also offer additional coursecurriculum, including more advanced courses. Currently, the federal governmentowns over 100 surgical robots between the DoD and VA, representing aninvestment of over $200 million.

Lt. Col. Josh Tyler, 81st Surgical Operations SquadronInDORSE director, had the vision for the robotic surgery training program,along with assistance from Maj. Scott Thallemer, 81st MSGS InDORSE robotcoordinator.

“My idea was to create this site so we could train ourmilitary surgeons in-house,” said Tyler. “The site was built in collaborationwith Intuitive, the DaVinci Xi surgical robot manufacturer. They provide thetrainer and teach their curriculum and that comes at no cost to the federalgovernment. In the current fiscal environment, it is important for us to findsustainable models for surgical education.”

According to Tyler, who recently returned from deploymentsupporting Operation Inherent Resolve, personnel turnover and militaryoperational tempo are the main obstacles to successful robotic implementationin federal sector healthcare. With the InDoRSE setup, these obstacles aredirectly addressed. There is also tremendous cost savings with the in-housetraining paradigm. InDoRSE training costs $3,500 less than industry sites, andwith the number of personnel trained the educational savings totals over $1million.

The in-house program not only includes affordable training, but also trains nurses and technicians, in addition to surgeons, which makes Keesler Air Force Base’s InDORSE training program different from traditional industry sites.

“Good surgery has always been about being a team in theoperating room,” said Tyler. “This program really lets us train the team, notjust the individual, and I think that’s what is so important about this site.”

Tyler started out with four different coordinators in hopes of getting his program started, but the one who matched his passion was the fifth, Maj. Scott Thallemer, 81st MSGS InDORSE robot coordinator.

Through Tyler and Thallemer’s hard work, the program continues to grow and they intend to push it farther, aiming to expand the program and eventually quadruple their capacity for training. With one robot, they have now trained over 100 surgeons and an additional 200 nurses and OR technicians, for a total of over 300 personnel. This includes 37 different facilities spanning Army, Navy, Air Force, and VA hospitals and surgeons from 10 different specialties. Those surgeons have returned home and done almost 1,500 robotic surgical procedures.

“This site is changing the face of federal sector surgery, particularly with patient outcomes,” said Tyler. “We are teaching these teams how to leverage the latest technology to produce the best outcomes for our patients, and with better outcomes come lower costs. We focus on creating a culture of efficiency and patient safety. Additionally, robotics will improve both recruitment and retention, and those are equally important as they improve readiness.”