Door County Medical Center is one of the top 20 critical access hospitals in the nation. More than a hospital, Door County Medical Center is an integrated health system providing the residents of Door and Kewaunee counties with state of the art technology and procedures, and top physicians.
There are 4 big ways Door County Medical Center brings state of the art technology to our community. #1 is da Vinci Robotic Surgery.
The da Vinci Surgical System is an advanced, robotic computer that uses 3-D technologies to assist your surgeon with an operation. It has been safely utilized by skilled surgeons since 2000, but not every hospital offers this state of the art technology. Earlier this year, Door County Medical hired Dr. St. Jean, whose practice includes all aspects of Minimally Invasive Surgery, endoscopy and robotic surgery. He brings years of experience with advanced robotic surgery to DCMC.
“It’s the latest in advance robotic-assisted surgery and in minimally invasive procedures,” says Dr. St. Jean, “The da Vinci Xi makes it possible for surgeons to perform complex operations through small incisions—operations, which would otherwise require large incisions and long recuperation times.” The first “baptismal patient” to utilize daVinci assisted surgery for colon resection was home in two days, “I hate to jinx it, but it went very well,” says Dr. St. Jean.
The robot’s mechanical wrists bend and rotate inside your body more effectively than a human wrist, resulting in a less invasive surgery. The surgeon is 100% in control of the robotic-assisted arms, which translates his/her hand movements into smaller, more precise movements of tiny instruments inside your body. The 3D-HD vision system provides surgeons a highly magnified view, virtually extending their eyes and hands into the patient.
Additionally, Dr. St. Jean points out that robotic-assisted surgery results in “decreased post-op pain. It gets the patient back to normal faster. Now that DCMC has one of these machines, Door County residents won’t have to travel to a major city for one of these procedures—we’re bringing the technological forefront to Door County.”
Soon, nearly all DCMC surgeons will be proficient in utilizing da Vinci technology. Dr. St. Jean is currently proctoring Dr. Scheer and Dr. Melarvie and works together with Intuitive Surgical representatives on their training. DCMC surgeons also receive additional training from the company off site through a standard curriculum.
Door County Medical Center is committed to continually bringing the most advanced technology to our community, but we never lose sight of the human connection that makes our hospital special. That’s why we are also committed to maintaining patient satisfaction scores in the 99th percentile, as we have, year after year.
Call to make an appointment for a consultation with one of our skilled surgeons today. (920) 746-1060