Statistics aren’t immediately available, but Newman Regional Health CEO Bob Wright says the hospital’s operating room is busier than it has been in a while.
Wright says the combination of new surgeons and the new da Vinci robotic equipment means the hospital can do more kinds of surgeries than before — and more surgeries than initially expected.
The hospital saw its first prostotectomy Tuesday and bowel resection Wednesday. Wright says those kinds of surgeries would not have been done without the da Vinci system, which came on board in June.
During the hospital’s Board of Trustees meeting this week, board members discussed physician recruitment and nurse recruitment, which dipped during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic and caused the hospital to rely heavily on contract labor. Wright says physician recruitment is going well, with several new doctors coming on board over the next nine months and an increase in new nurses as well, meaning the hospital can wean itself off the contract staff over the next few months..
