You might think the new state of the art da Vinci robot is completely automated and self sustaining, but the reality is there's a team of nurses and technicians that literally supports the technology and makes the surgeries possible.

Pauline McGhee, RN, is Southwest's robotic nurse specialist. She leads a team of five nurses and surgery technicians who have all received special training on the technology. Each team member completed online classes from the manufacturer and took part in several on-site visits to other hospitals in the area to observe and learn how the robot worked, case set-up and various techniques. The team also did several dry runs using the robot together with surgeons. As the team's specialist, McGhee also spent four intense days of training with 20 other specialists from around the country in Sunnyvale, California.

The training has paid off and the team is working well, with turnover times under 30 minutes. 'Kudos to the robotic team on an excellent start to our program,' said Scott Rushing, MD. Rushing says the turnover times are some of the most efficient he's seen in six years of doing robotic surgery.

Southwest began using the da Vinci system in March. Most commonly used in the treatment of urological and gynecological conditions including prostate and gynecological cancers, da Vinci is benefiting patients who without this technology may not be candidates for minimally invasive procedures. The da Vinci system uses advanced robotic technology allowing physicians to operate through small, dime-size abdominal incisions and direct robot 'arms' to perform surgery with a variety of specialized surgical instruments.