Elmsford Students Get Hands-On Experience with Robotics

Eight students from Alexander Hamilton Jr/Sr. High School in the Elmsford Union Free School District had the chance to learn about the robotics equipment at White Plains Hospital Feb. 28 thanks to a two-day workshop offered by the hospital, part of its Clinical Tutorial Program.

Before getting into mandatory scrubs, the students, who were accompanied by technology teacher Hector Hernandez, learned about the hospital’s use of cutting-edge robotics in the operating room.

Dr. Philip Weber, director of The Division of Minimally Invasive Surgery, told them that surgeons at WPH have been using robots since 2005, specifically the da Vinci Surgical System.

It is currently being used to perform laparoscopic surgeries on patients who have both cancerous and benign tumors on the kidneys, prostate, bladder, ureter, ovaries, uterus, gallbladder, lungs, colon, stomach, and more.

Once in the hospital operating room, Dr. Weber took the students aside and demonstrated the use of the system’s simulator, while Family Nurse Practitioner Lorice Massias showed them how to suture using a piece of foam as practice.

During the 90-minute workshop, each student had a chance to use the machine’s console controls, which allows surgeons to see the interior of the body at a resolution that is far superior to the human eye. They were also able to use the master controllers, which allow for precise, dexterous control of the surgical instruments, a critical part of the process.

In real life, the surgeon would be seated at the console, with the patient on an operating table a few feet away, they learned. Nurse Massias brought the students close to the Da Vinci laparoscope, which is the large robotic machine with mechanical arms that do the work, guided by the surgeon. Each arm has specialized instruments, including needle drivers, forceps and other parts that carry out the surgery through tiny holes in a patient’s organs.

“The size of the needle depends on the size of the patient and the type of surgery that is being done,” Nurse Massias told the students. “If you are working near blood vessels, for example, you will need something delicate,” she added.

Dr. Weber said that the end result of robotic surgery is virtually scarless. “Most operations are not very bloody these days,” he said. “If you dissect appropriately and know what you are doing, it’s not a problem.”