Patients' experience of robotic-assisted surgery: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: The use of robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) has increased considerably since its introduction in 2001, with RAS now being widely accepted as a surgical modality. Current literature surrounding RAS focuses on the surgical team's experience rather than the patient's perspective, with limited qualitative research on post-RAS patient experience. AIM: To explore patient-reported experience following RAS. METHODS: Twelve semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted. Interviews were audio recorded with data transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. FINDINGS: Themes included: factors specific to the robotic modality and psychological factors. Participant concerns emanated from their experience of a lack of pre-operative preparation, resulting in feelings of anxiety and some negative perceptions of RAS. CONCLUSION: Given the limited time for patient preparation for RAS, work developing patient information that is also patient-led would be of benefit. Pre-operative preparation is a key nursing role' and further research could explore nurses' experiences of preparing patients for RAS, facilitators and barriers to providing optimum patient preparation in this context.

Nurses' perceptions and experiences of robotic assisted surgery (RAS): An integrative review.

AIM: To identify and review published literature on the perceptions and experience of nurses working with RAS. BACKGROUND: Robotic assisted surgery (RAS) is rapidly becoming accepted as the elite modality for surgery since its introduction in the 1980 s, more recently there has been a rising trend of use with several specialities operating using this technology. The role of nurses in perioperative care has been described as maintaining the momentum of the patient's journey. Patients undergoing RAS require nursing care throughout their journey, therefore knowledge of nurses' experiences and perceptions of RAS is important to identifying nurse education and development needs. DESIGN: Integrative literature review DATABASE SOURCES: Databases searched for peer reviewed studies included CINAHL, Academic Search Complete, EMBASE, Scopus, ADA Psycinfo, Medline. REVIEW METHODS: A comprehensive database search was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Six databases were searched with 523 screened for eligibility. Ten studies were included in the review seven qualitative and three quantitative. RESULTS: Ten studies were identified, critically appraised and synthesised using thematic analysis. All studies were conducted with nurses in the perioperative environment. Key findings were that nurses education regarding RAS is limited with more emphasis placed on surgeon education and training. There was evidence that nurses experienced a lack of education, training and information as barriers to their role which subsequently raised their stress levels. CONCLUSION: Evidence suggests a clear need for education and training for nurses working with RAS. In addition, nurses working with RAS provide care preoperatively, intraoperatively, postoperatively and post discharge in the community. However, no research has been conducted with nurses outside of the perioperative environment. Further research is required to understand the experiences and perceptions of nurses working with RAS patients in all care settings to identify their education and development needs.

Patients' Perceptions After Robot-Assisted Surgery: An Integrative Review.

Surgical techniques have greatly changed and advanced with the advent of robot-assisted surgery (RAS). Patient outcome measures for RAS generally focus on patient morbidity and mortality, surgical complications, and hospital length of stay; there is limited research on patients' perceptions of RAS. Researchers conducted an integrative literature review of published research on patient experience and satisfaction after undergoing RAS. They searched nine databases and screened 1,263 articles for eligibility, six of which were critically appraised and synthesized into two main themes: patient satisfaction with RAS and the effect of information sharing on patient satisfaction. There was a dearth of qualitative studies exploring patients' perceptions after RAS and it was difficult to determine whether patient satisfaction was specifically related to the procedure modality (ie, robotic) or was influenced by other factors (eg, clinical outcomes). Clear differences between patient experience and satisfaction after undergoing RAS versus nonrobotic surgery are not apparent.

Tracing enteric viruses in the European berry fruit supply chain.

In recent years, numerous foodborne outbreaks due to consumption of berry fruit contaminated by human enteric viruses have been reported. This European multinational study investigated possible contamination routes by monitoring the entire food chain for a panel of human and animal enteric viruses. A total of 785 samples were collected throughout the food production chain of four European countries (Czech Republic, Finland, Poland and Serbia) during two growing seasons. Samples were taken during the production phase, the processing phase, and at point-of-sale. Samples included irrigation water, animal faeces, food handlers' hand swabs, swabs from toilets on farms, from conveyor belts at processing plants, and of raspberries or strawberries at points-of-sale; all were subjected to virus analysis. The samples were analysed by real-time (reverse transcription, RT)-PCR, primarily for human adenoviruses (hAdV) to demonstrate that a route of contamination existed from infected persons to the food supply chain. The analyses also included testing for the presence of selected human (norovirus, NoV GI, NoV GII and hepatitis A virus, HAV), animal (porcine adenovirus, pAdV and bovine polyomavirus, bPyV) and zoonotic (hepatitis E virus, HEV) viruses. At berry production, hAdV was found in 9.5%, 5.8% and 9.1% of samples of irrigation water, food handlers' hands and toilets, respectively. At the processing plants, hAdV was detected in one (2.0%) swab from a food handler's hand. At point-of-sale, the prevalence of hAdV in fresh raspberries, frozen raspberries and fresh strawberries, was 0.7%, 3.2% and 2.0%, respectively. Of the human pathogenic viruses, NoV GII was detected in two (3.6%) water samples at berry production, but no HAV was detected in any of the samples. HEV-contaminated frozen raspberries were found once (2.6%). Animal faecal contamination was evidenced by positive pAdV and bPyV assay results. At berry production, one water sample contained both viruses, and at point-of-sale 5.7% and 1.3% of fresh and frozen berries tested positive for pAdV. At berry production hAdV was found both in irrigation water and on food handler's hands, which indicated that these may be important vehicles by which human pathogenic viruses enter the berry fruit chain. Moreover, both zoonotic and animal enteric viruses could be detected on the end products. This study gives insight into viral sources and transmission routes and emphasizes the necessity for thorough compliance with good agricultural and hygienic practice at the farms to help protect the public from viral infections.