Two new operating rooms are the centerpiece for the renovated Pete Beaty Surgery Center at South Florida Baptist Hospital. Community members were given a tour of the surgery center Sunday, April 12, during a VIP reception.
The operating rooms expand the overall surgical capacity from five to seven rooms. Operating Room 6 is 600 square feet and Operating Room 7 is 700 square feet. The spacious design of each room incorporates integrated camera systems with surgical lights and equipment, as well as a boom system for mounted monitors. Four upstairs operating rooms could fit into one of the new rooms.
Operating Room 7 is home to the da Vinci SI, the hospital’s surgical robot. From a separate console, a doctor controls the $2 million robot, which C.R. Hall, chief of robotic surgery, said is more of a precise instrument than anything else.
“We have the best machine currently, and now we have the operating room to go with it,” Hall said. “Now the robot has a dedicated room, a space to move around.”
Hall was one of many to spearhead the robotic surgery field at South Florida Baptist Hospital. He initially approached former hospital president Steve Nierman about purchasing the robot. Hall was the only doctor at the time who could do robotic surgery. Now there are eight doctors at South Florida Baptist Hospital that perform procedure
s using the robot.
“It’s come a long way,” Hall said. “We’re putting it to very good use.”
The robot magnifies the surgical field up to ten times, making it easier for doctors to see the structures they need to repair and have better control over them. It’s used for a variety of ailments such as fibroids, hysterectomies, acid reflux, hernias, inflammation of the esophagus, which could turn into cancer, and more.
“We’re able to do those operations safer without trauma to a patient,” Hall said.
Each medial department uses the robot on a different scheduled day. If, for whatever reason, the robot is not ready for surgery, then any surgeon could complete the procedure microscopically, the “old-fashioned way,” according to Hall.
“The dependability of the robot … is unbelievable,” Hall said.
In the future, if another robot is needed, Operating Room 6 has been built with the foresight to accommodate the large machine.
A new recovery area also got a lift. The 6,000-square-foot open-concept plan expands from 18 to 25 beds.
“A lot has changed, so we have to change as well,” Karen Kerr, hospital president, said.
The surgery center originally opened 15 years ago. Steven Butler, chief of surgery, was present for its opening then, and its new renovations now. He credits hospital advancements like the surgery center’s renovation for maintaining the health of the community.
“Fifteen years ago I stood in this very spot and gave this very speech,” he said before the tour. “Many of you were here then … How good it is that we are here now.”
FUN FACT
C.R. Hall, chief of robotic surgery at South Florida Baptist Hospital, gave a tour of Operating Room 7 and a large robot used for some surgeries. He joked that the robot had to be considered male so his wife wouldn’t get jealous of all the time he spent with it. Since 2014, there have been over 400 operations using the robot. Last year there were 140 operations.