Jacksonville Country Day School students name Baptist Medical Center Beaches’ new surgical robot

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Dozens of local students are taking learning outside the classroom walls and getting a closer look at how a surgical robot helps treat patients.

Second and sixth-grade students at Jacksonville Country Day School got to test drive and name Baptist Medical Center Beaches’ newest surgical robot.

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Baptist Beaches has been performing robot-assisted surgeries since 2012, and the hospital got its second surgical robot last December.

The robot is controlled much like a video game system. The surgeon will sit down and use controllers during surgery.

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“A human hand only has so much rotation and when you use the robot for specific surgery it allows patients to leave the hospital sooner and it just ensures that there is a safe surgery,” hospital president Jarret Dreicer said

“The camera has a three-dimensional view, so we get much more detailed visualization,” said Jenny Whitworth, a GYN Oncologist. “The movements with those instruments are so much more fine.”

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The students also got to select the name of this robot. One student used the robot to pick the name “Courage” out of a hat.

Chris Johnson, the head of the school, said this type of learning experience was inspiring and motivating for the students.

“I think a lot of these kids are going to walk out of here thinking, ‘I want to be a surgeon,’ or ‘This is something that I can do one day,’” Johnson said.

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