Gundersen St. Joseph’s Hospital and Clinics is excited to announce the addition of state-of-the-art robotic-assisted general/gynecology surgery to its portfolio of specialty services.

The addition is the latest in a long line of new services St. Joe’s has brought to the community since taking occupancy of its new hospital and clinic facility in June 2020. New services have included the addition of chiropractic care, robotic-assisted knee surgery, oncology, and audiology.

The new robotic-assisted general/gynecology surgery service is possible thanks to the addition of a Da Vinci Xi robotic surgery system from international medical manufacturer Intuitive—a system that has set the standard as the most widely used multiport robotic surgery system in the world.

“The system allows for even greater control and precision when performing surgery,” says Layne Hammer, RN, manager of specialty and surgery at Gundersen St. Joseph’s Hospital and Clinics. “We describe this new service as robotic assisted because the surgeon is still controlling the robot from within the operating room.”

“There’s two main pieces to the system. One is a “patient cart” which sits over the patient and has four “arms” which house a broad range of precision tools, scopes, and instruments for a large variety of surgical procedures. The second piece is a “surgeon console” where the surgeon is seated. The surgeon controls the patient cart from the console using crystal clear, magnified 3DHD visioning. This provides the surgeon with greater control and an enhanced view of the surgical site, resulting in better surgical outcomes for patients.”

“We’re very excited to be able to bring this technology to our rural community,” says Kristie McCoic, administrator of Gundersen St. Joseph’s Hospital and Clinics. “We are among the first 100 critical access hospitals in the nation to offer this state-of-the-art technology.”