Robotic surgical incidents may pressure hospital training

A rising number of reports about deaths, injuries, and malfunctions linked to the robotic surgery system made by Intuitive Surgical Inc. may pressure hospitals to bolster training for physicians using the $1.5 million device. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration received 3,697 adverse event reports through Nov. 3, compared with 1,595 through all of 2012, an agency official said in an interview last week. The surge may be tied to added public awareness from more use of the da Vinci surgical systems, recent media reports, and recalls.

In addition, a recent FDA survey of surgeons suggested the complex robot interface was a challenge to master and that physician training was inconsistent. Standardized training on new medical technologies “is a systemic problem,” said Robert Sweet, a medical training expert at the University of Minnesota, in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. The spotlight on robotic surgery may help to focus needed attention on the issue, he said.