Douglas Slakey From Tulane University: Balancing Traditional Surgical Techniques With Technological Innovations

As robotics becomes a greater part of the surgical field there is a concern that some doctors may become too comfortable with technology and not rely as much on their traditional training in procedures. Despite this challenge there are ways doctors are finding to strike a balance between the two sides for the best end result.

While older doctors have the institutional memory of operating directly on a patient more recent graduates will only know the modern procedures where they are responsible for guiding robots to perform the same operations. Douglas Slakey, MD, MPH, from Tulane University said it is important for training of these younger doctors to include techniques they can use should the technology fail or not be available for any reason during the operation while still having the same end result. This, he said, can be done through simulation and practice as part of their learning process.