A group of teenagers performed surgery on candy bars in the Park City hospital’s lobby with a moose.
The students are part of Park City High School’s Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) Physical Therapy program and “Moose” is the nickname of the hospital’s new robot with surgical arms that look like moose antlers.
This new program at the hospital utilizes the da Vinci XI robotic-assisted surgical system for minimally invasive surgical procedures like cardiac, thoracic, urologic and gynecologic general surgery cases.
Addison Toohey is a junior at PCHS and said she was surprised at how dissecting the candy bar with the robot felt similar to using her own hands. She struggled with her depth perception but she said she loved experimenting with this new technology.
“My goal in life is to do professional ballet," she said. "And that's obviously a big part in the recovery, because injuries happen often in ballet. I’ve just been really interested in it. And so coming here, and seeing this is super cool even though it’s not physical therapy, it’s a type of medicine which is fun to learn about.”
Dr. Kate Smiley helped students navigate the robot. The process started with them pressing their faces into the console, which activated the equipment so they could control the arms and fingers. The foot pedals navigated the coagulation and cauterization which Smiley said are two different levels of heat surgeons use to cauterize, cut or control the bleeding.
She said the haptics–the ability to feel how hard you’re pulling or pushing on tissue–is a challenge with Moose but surgeons learn to adapt.
“Surgeons have to develop what we call the ‘sixth sense,’ or our ‘spidey sense’ is another way we call it," she said. "But basically you can kind of look at the tension you're putting on the tissue and you can develop a sense of, ‘OK, I'm getting to a point where I'm pulling a little bit too much. Or I’m going to be pulling too much, I need to lighten my pressure a little bit.’”
Libby Anderson wants to be a Navy medic and said she enjoyed the robot because it was like putting together a puzzle. She enjoys CAPS for this reason.
“It's interactive and I have a lot easier time learning when things are hands-on and they're fun," said Anderson. "We're going to do clinical rotations so we get to work in the field, which I think is a lot more interesting than just sitting in a classroom all day, having lectures from your teacher, because we're doing amazing stuff like this with great opportunities.”
Dr. Smiley said the students did a great job navigating the da Vinci XI. “I think people of the younger generation are a little bit more accustomed to video games, looking at something on a screen and coordinating that with something, you know, with your hands or feet.”
So, who knows? All the video games kids are playing could translate into a fulfilling career in medicine.
