Cookeville Regional named a national robotic surgery epicenter, establishing the facility as a regional hub for training surgeons on advanced robotic technology.
Uro-gynecologist Dr. Bert Geer said the status a result of a rigorous year-long process to meet specific performance and volume requirements. Geer said the medical center is now the first hospital in Tennessee to offer proctorship across five different specialties using the latest Da Vinci 5 robotic system.
“I think it’s going to give us credibility,” Geer said. “I’ve said for a long time that we’re just as good if not better than the big academic institutions. But now we’re being recognized as, as being the best. And that’s our always been our goal. We never have accepted being average at Cookeville.”
Geer said the hospital launched the Robotic Institute of Tennessee as a center of excellence to focus on patient outcomes and data-driven growth. Geer said the program expanded significantly by incorporating general surgery and bariatric surgery alongside existing heart, urology, and gynecology programs.
“It’s rare that you find epicenters in non-academic institutions,” Geer said. “The most of the epicenters are in larger hospitals, metropolitan areas. They’re in, and it’s just, it’s been that way in the past just because, I don’t know, I wish I had the answer to that. Mainly because the smaller hospitals haven’t had the resources, they’ve not had the foresight to become a teaching center. And, that’s sort of been our goal now for a long time.”
Geer said the new robotic technology allows surgeons to perform complex procedures with 14-times magnification and 3D visualization. Geer said the system also enables live remote consultations and the ability to proctor other doctors across the country from Cookeville.
“The cool thing now is that there is a lot of data to support, robotic outcomes compared to laparoscopy and to open surgery, specifically in patient length of stay, patient satisfaction, pain scores afterwards, blood loss, infection rate, readmission rate, faster return to work and to normal activities,” Geer said. “All of those things now are favored with robotic surgery.”
Geer said the hospital’s commitment to minimally invasive techniques has resulted in an open hysterectomy rate of less than one percent, compared to a national average of 40 percent. Geer said the average length of stay for those patients has dropped from three days with open surgery to less than three hours with the robot.
“I think this is a huge statement, by the administration of CRMC,” Geer said. “This is them shouting we’re going to keep up with everyone else and then exceed what they’re doing. That’s the commitment that I have seen from administration and the backing of administration.”
