How Emory is using da Vinci digital surgery tools to train the next generation: 3 takeaways
As da Vinci surgery platforms evolve into data-rich, digital ecosystems, health systems are discovering that the real value isn’t just in the operating room — it’s in what the technology can teach.
During a featured session at Becker’s 16th Annual Meeting, Ankit Patel, MD, professor of surgery at Emory University School of Medicine and chief of surgery at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital (Atlanta), where he also leads robotic surgical education, shared how the organization has moved from simply performing da Vinci surgery cases to building a comprehensive digital surgical program.
Note: Quotes have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
1. Upgrading the fleet exposed hidden costs and unexpected savings
Emory was among the last academic centers in the country to upgrade its da Vinci surgery fleet, acquiring its first da Vinci Xi in 2019 — five years after launch. Dr. Patel said the delay cost the health system competitive standing and hurt recruitment at every level.
When da Vinci 5 arrived, piloting a single unit revealed something the system hadn’t anticipated: da Vinci surgery cases required fewer instruments, less redundant equipment and simpler sterile processing than laparoscopic alternatives. Costs that had never been carefully tracked suddenly became visible.
“When something breaks, a purchase order gets cut and that equipment gets replaced without really looking into it,” Dr. Patel said. The shift also reduced the need for surgical first assistants in certain cases, freeing staff to be deployed elsewhere — a downstream efficiency the team hadn’t planned for but is now actively tracking for broader standardization.
2. Digital tools are transforming how surgeons are trained and evaluated
Dr. Patel noted that for decades, surgical credentialing relied on case volume with no objective measure of skill. Da Vinci 5’s integrated simulator changes that, offering a structured pathway from basic safety tasks to procedure-specific proficiency. Emory’s fleet has logged more than 200,000 simulator hours, and future versions will analyze prior case performance to recommend targeted exercises automatically.
Equally significant is instant video replay. Where laparoscopic footage once took days to process, da Vinci surgery case video is now accessible within minutes of closing. Residents receive same-day feedback and can apply corrections to their next case immediately, a shift that Emory’s preliminary data suggests is compressing learning curves and accelerating skill transfer across procedure types.
Desktop analytics allow faculty to compare a trainee’s instrument positioning and efficiency across multiple cases in real time, replacing the guesswork that characterized training for generations. “We couldn’t do this before,” Dr. Patel said. “This has been on our wish list for 20 to 30 years.”
3. Telepresence is beginning to reshape how expertise moves across a health system
Emory operates 11 hospitals, and da Vinci 5’s telepresence capability is designed to extend senior surgical expertise to satellite facilities without moving the surgeon or the patient. Dr. Patel currently uses it to observe cases remotely from his clinic, logging in via a text prompt in under 20 seconds. The longer-term vision is enabling satellite-site surgeons to handle higher-complexity cases with remote senior support: reducing interfacility transfers, freeing capacity at the main hub and expanding access to da Vinci surgery across the system.
Physician compensation for remote consultation remains an open regulatory question, but Dr. Patel said Emory is actively working through how to structure the capability across its system. For same-specialty consultations, billing requirements are less of a barrier, making that a natural starting point. “There’s a lot of interfacility transfers we can decrease — that ultimately ends up in savings,” he said.
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