How to train your surgeon! Experience of a patient side assistant

The robotic surgery programme at the Bristol Urological Institute started in 2009. The bedside assistants for the initial patients changed frequently as the role was given to the urooncology trainee working with the team at that time. However, established robotic surgery programmes use permanent bedside assistants. This continuity across all cases translates into a more efficient workflow, and in our opinion is essential to any robotic surgery service. Our current senior bedside assistant recognised this need and successfully secured funding for such a post in Bristol in 2010. We currently have two permanent bedside assistants who had training as surgical care practitioners (SCPs). As part of their training they complete a 2-year MSc in surgical care practice at Cardiff University. Our SCPs have assisted in >1300 robotic procedures, including prostatectomy, cystectomy, partial nephrectomy and pyeloplasty. They continue to be vital to the programme and have been involved in training of more than a dozen successive surgeons. In this article we present the personal experience of our senior SCP, which will demonstrate the benefits that highly qualified bedside assistants have on the training of robotic-assisted surgeons.