Video rounding system: a pilot study in patient care.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Integration of information technology (IT) with health care improvement is ever increasing. National initiatives, such as Transforming Care at the Bedside, and physician-nurse collaboration committees use IT to enhance patient care. We sought to determine the impact of "video rounding" on the post-operative care of endourologic inpatients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Laptop computers with built-in Webcam and video conferencing software were used for real-time video and audio connections between patient and nurse at the bedside and urologist at a remote location. This video rounding system (VRS) was used in addition to standard rounds. Ten patients were randomly selected and consented to participate with one of two surgeons. Post-VRS surveys with six questions each were completed by patient, physician, and nurse using a 5-point Likert scale. RESULTS: Ten physician, 10 patient, and 14 nursing surveys were filled for 10 patients who completed VRS. Of these patients, 90% strongly agreed/agreed that they could easily communicate with their physician using VRS. All patients strongly agreed that VRS should be a regular part of patient care and that they would be comfortable using VRS if their physician was unable to be in direct contact with them. All physicians and nurses strongly agreed/agreed that VRS was easy to use, enhanced patient care, would be a comfortable alternative if direct physician contact was not possible, and that it should be a regular part of institutional care. For all participants, video and audio quality were rated excellent/very good by 91.2% and 70.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: VRS has shown promising usefulness in enhancing patient care and improving communication between nurse, physician, and patient. VRS is not intended to replace daily face-to-face physician rounding. Additional features of this system are currently being evaluated, including four-way simultaneous video rounding as well as sending intraoperative photos and video clips for real-time patient/nurse education.

Laparoscopic nephrectomy outcomes of elderly patients in the 21st century.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: As life expectancy continues to increase, we will be faced with the need to counsel older patients on the risks and benefits of undergoing surgery. It is clear that laparoscopic renal surgery has significant benefits over open renal surgery. However, contemporary data on whether these benefits carry over to the elderly is less robust. The objective of this study is to compare the perioperative outcomes of laparoscopic nephrectomy in patients age 70 and over to those under age 70. Outcomes from the study can be used to assist in preoperative counseling for older patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between February 2000 and December 2005, 405 consecutive patients underwent laparoscopic nephrectomy for benign or malignant conditions. To decrease selection bias, kidney donors, bilateral nephrectomies, partial nephrectomies, as well as patients under the age of 17 were excluded. Laparoscopic nephrectomies included simple nephrectomies, radical nephrectomies, and nephroureterectomies. A total of 158 patients were included in the analysis. Patient demographics and perioperative data were recorded prospectively. The preoperative American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was used to reflect patient co-morbidity. Subset analysis between pure laparoscopic nephrectomy (LN) and hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy (HALN) was also performed. RESULTS: Average hospital stay for patients 70 years and older was 3.6 days versus 2.6 days for their younger counterparts (p = 0.02). All other demographic and perioperative parameters were comparable between groups, including incidence of intraoperative or postoperative complications, blood transfusions, and conversions to open surgery. In a subset analysis of patients undergoing HALN, despite having similar co-morbid conditions (ASA score 2.57 vs. 2.56, p = 0.9), the elderly group had a significantly increased length of stay compared to patients younger than 70 years (3.0 vs. 4.2 days, p < 0.05). However, in the group undergoing LN, there was no statistically significant difference in hospital stay (3.1 vs. 2.4 days, p = 0.22), despite the older group having higher co-morbid conditions (ASA score 2.55 vs. 2.10, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Other than an increased hospital stay by one day, patients 70 years and older undergoing laparoscopic nephrectomy can expect comparable perioperative outcomes to those achieved in younger patients. Such differences in the length of hospital stay may be mitigated by pure laparoscopic nephrectomy as opposed to hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy in patients 70 years or older. These data may be useful in preoperative decision-making and counseling in this growing subset of patients.

Robot assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy: initial experience.

PURPOSE: Advances in laparoscopy have made laparoscopic partial nephrectomy a technically feasible procedure but it remains challenging to even experienced laparoscopists. We hypothesized that robotic assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy may make this procedure more efficacious than the standard laparoscopic approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten patients with a mean age of 58 years and mean tumor size of 2.0 cm underwent robotic assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy and another 10 with a mean age of 61 years and mean tumor size of 2.18 cm underwent laparoscopic partial nephrectomy, as performed by a team of 2 surgeons (MS and ST) between May 2002 and January 2004. Demographic data, intraoperative parameters and postoperative data were compared between the 2 groups. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in patient demographics between the 2 groups. Intraoperative data and postoperative outcomes were statistically similar. In the 10 patients who underwent robotic assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy there were 2 intraoperative complications. There was 1 conversion in the laparoscopic partial nephrectomy group. CONCLUSIONS: Robotic assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy is a safe and feasible procedure in patients with small exophytic masses. The robotic approach to laparoscopic partial nephrectomy does not offer any clinical advantage over conventional laparoscopic nephrectomy.

Multifocal renal oncocytoma in a patient with Von Hippel-Lindau mutation.

Von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) is a rare genetic disease with a lifetime risk of clear cell renal cell carcinoma in approximately 70% of cases. We present a case of a 63-year-old man with bilateral, multifocal renal masses. Genetic testing results were consistent with a VHL deletion. The patient had no other disease manifestations consistent with VHL. The patient underwent staged bilateral nephron-sparing procedures. Pathology of all renal masses revealed oncocytoma. To our knowledge, we describe the first reported case of multiple renal oncocytomas in a male patient with a germline VHL mutation.

Isolated renal vein thrombosis after blunt trauma.

Renal vein thrombosis typically occurs in the setting of nephrotic syndrome, tumor thrombus, primary retroperitoneal processes with vein compression, oral contraceptive use, steroid therapy, transplanted kidney, or trauma. Trauma-induced renal vein thrombosis usually presents in combination with renal arterial or parenchymal injury. We report a case of isolated renal vein thrombosis secondary to blunt abdominal and flank trauma. The diagnosis was made with computed tomography, which revealed a filling defect in the affected renal vein and persistent nephrogram on delayed images. In general, conservative management is the preferred treatment approach with anticoagulation.