The Impact of a Dedicated Robotic Team on Robotic-Assisted Sacrocolpopexy Outcomes

Robotic-assisted sacrocolpopexy has been criticized for high cost. A strategy to increase operating room efficiency and decrease cost is implementation of a dedicated robotic team. Our objective was to determine if a dedicated robotic team decreases operative time.

This institutional review board-approved retrospective cohort study included all robotic-assisted sacrocolpopexy performed from June 2010 to August 2015 by a single surgeon at 2 institutions in 1 health system. One hospital had a dedicated robotic team, whereas the other did not. To assess baseline differences, χ and t tests were used. Multivariable linear regression identified factors impacting operative time.

Eighty-eight robotic-assisted sacrocolpopexy cases met inclusion criteria. Subjects were primarily white (92.8%) and postmenopausal (85.5%) with stage III prolapse (71.1%). Mean age was 60.6 ± 9.0 years, and BMI was 28.5 ± 5.1 kg/m. Seventeen cases (19.3%) had a dedicated team. In the 71 cases without a dedicated team, there were 16 different surgical technologist and no advanced practice providers. Groups had similar baseline characteristics (all P > 0.05).Mean operative time for the dedicated team was significantly less (131.8 vs 160.2 minutes, P < 0.001), a 17.7% time reduction. The decrease persisted on multivariable regression (β = -25.98 minutes, P < 0.001) after adjusting for case order on the day (β = -8.6 minutes, P = 0.002) and prior to hysterectomy (β = -36.1 minutes, P < 0.001). Operative complications and prolapse recurrence were low overall and not different between the dedicated and nondedicated teams (0% vs 2.9%, P = 0.50; 0% vs 7.5%, P = 0.29).

A dedicated robotic team during robotic-assisted sacrocolpopexy significantly decreased operative time by 26 minutes, a 17.7% reduction at our institution.