CRMC Demonstrates Growing Robotics Program

Local residents got the chance to experience Cookeville Regional Medical Center’s da Vinci robot Tuesday as part of the hospital’s growing robotics program.

Robotics Committee Chair Dr. Bert Geer said the robot allows for more precise and complex operations by magnifying a doctor’s view by fourteen times and using implements as a small as one centimeter long. Geer said the improved functions mean less pain, bleeding, and recovery time for patients who are operated on by a doctor using one of their robots.

“There’s a lot of talk about robotics,” Geer said. “But it’s nice for someone to be able to see the robot, touch the robot, sit down. Some people are afraid that the robot drives itself and we just put it on autopilot. Well, that’s as far from the fact as it could be. We sit down and we use it as a tool.”

Geer said the robot uses wristed instruments meaning it has superior mobility compared to a doctor but it exactly mimics the movements of its operator. Geer said Cookeville Regional just completed its 6,000th robotic surgery and the program is only growing from here.

“We’ve started building this program several years ago,” Geer said. “And we’re developing it to be a center of excellence where others can come here to be trained. And so I’m really proud of where we’ve come over the years. Gosh, six thousand robots is a lot and I think we’ll hit the ten thousand mark in probably three years.”

Geer said the machine is also designed with ergonomics in mind for the doctor operating it.

“You get to sit at the console in a very comfortable position with your head inside the binoculars so it’s almost like you’re inside the patient,” Geer said.

Geer said it is uncommon for a hospital of their size to have such an extensive robotics program.

“We were the first hospital in the state to have five specialties utilizing the robot,” Geer said. “And we may become the first hospital in the state to be what’s considered an epicenter, which is a center of excellence that’s multi-specialty.”

There are currently seven types of surgeries offered through the robotics program: thoracic, ENT, gynecology, urogynecology, general surgery, urology, and bariatric.

“It really depends on how we get trained,” Geer said. “Whether or not it’s helpful with the procedures that that surgeon does. And if we can convert open procedures into minimally invasive procedures, what we’ve done is we’ve saved that patient the hospital time, down time, recovery time, less pain.