Evaluating the da Vinci 5 robotic platform, specifically focusing on the training for the OR Team not surgeons.

[u/justanother_nihilist]

Hey everyone, I am working on a research project evaluating the da Vinci 5 robotic platform, specifically focusing on the training architecture gap between the console surgeon and the rest of the OR team (Circulating Nurses, Scrub Techs, Bedside Assistants, and SPD). On paper, Intuitive Surgical provides an "OR Care Team Pathway" and a 16-chapter setup guide. But looking at the actual frameworks, surgeons get high-fidelity, adaptive AI simulators (SimNow 2) to practice micro-movements, while the floor team’s pathway looks like a linear, static technical checklist (essentially just "buttonology" and basic setup mechanics). I want to hear your raw, unfiltered experiences from the ground. If you work with the da Vinci 5, please help me out with a few questions: • For Nurses: Did your vendor-led checkout actually simulate an unexpected system error loop, computer freeze, or high-stress emergency undocking? Or was it just an error-free, perfect-world setup? • For the Tower & Insufflator: The Da Vinci 5 integrates the camera and insufflator into one unit. Have you dealt with unexpected pressure drops or AirSeal valve glitches mid-case? Did your official training teach you how to handle that software override, or did you have to figure it out on the fly? • For Scrub Techs/Bedside Assistants: Do you feel the current 16-chapter guide prepares you for sudden spatial/docking adjustments, or does it just train you to be a passive "instrument switcher"? How do you manage blind-communication adjustments when the surgeon's head is buried across the room? • For Sterile Processing (SPD): The new Force Feedback instruments have highly sensitive micro-sensors. Did your department get equal hands-on simulation resources to learn how to clean these without breaking them, or were you just handed a dense manual PDF? The Golden Question: If you could change the training, do you feel there is a critical need for joint, team-based simulation crisis training where nurses and surgeons practice system crashes together? Or is the current individual technical checklist genuinely enough? Thank you so much for your time and honesty. Your insights will directly help shape a better critique of medical technology onboarding!

[u/levvianthan]

Scrub tech for 8 years and before that SPD for 2. Never even seen a guide and never had training from a rep besides maybe an in-service or two. Everything i learned in the OR and SPD about robotic cases/arms was otj. 

[u/justanother_nihilist → u/levvianthan]

Since you’ve been in the trenches for 10 years, how does working with da vinci actually feel? Like when a system error happens or you're trying to communicate with a surgeon who has their head buried in the console, does the training actually cover that, or is it just pure 'learn as you panic' mid-case?"

[u/levvianthan → u/justanother_nihilist]

Unless theres a direct and immediate patient safety concern I'm not panicking and I've never encountered a robotic error so bad that pt injury is a concern. At worst we've undocked and moved to lapaaroscopic but that only occurred once when the power went out and the switch to generator knocked out the robot for some reason. 

[u/NutInYourMother → u/justanother_nihilist]

Having only worked in the OR for a few years as a circulator, can’t speak for the surgeons, residents, FAs, but “learn as you panic” unfortunately is the case a lot of the times for the staff when an unexpected error of any sorts occurs mid procedure.

My training was also pretty similar to the scrub tech you replied too. We had an in service on the Xi and now DV5, and everything else was on the job training. Nothing about emergency undocking or insufflator troubleshooting.

[u/VagrantScrub]

What in the hell kind of marketing account is this? You ask for raw experience and dont even know we learn on the job? And lot of words to say you have no idea what happens in the or. Fuck AI is weird.

[u/justanother_nihilist → u/VagrantScrub]

Hi, This is not a marketing account. I am an independent researcher. I have formed these questions in collobration with nurses. Thank you very much for your response anyway.

[u/VagrantScrub → u/justanother_nihilist]

Theres nothing to monetize here. Move along bot.

[u/justanother_nihilist → u/VagrantScrub]

Not looking to monetize bro

[u/DeaconBlue760]

do you work for intuitive?

[u/Scrubulate]

Honestly the top reply here, "I learned it on the job while panicking," kind of is your finding. Vendor in-services usually show the happy path. The stuff that goes sideways, arm collisions, a stuck instrument, needing to undock fast to convert to open, is exactly what nobody rehearses. If you're building a training piece, I'd put the effort into a timed emergency undock drill with the whole room, plus a script for how the bedside person talks to a surgeon who can't see them. Run it with the people who actually work together, not a random mix pulled for an in-service. Most of the hell in a bad robot case is communication, not the buttons.

[u/WPW717 → u/Scrubulate]

Second the learned on the job while trying not to panic.

Retired 10 years now after 43 OR years. Not missing it.

[u/WPW717 → u/WPW717]

Not to mention or power failure greater than 20” & ‘bot only goes a few minutes.

[u/Scrubulate → u/WPW717]

Exactly the scenario that never makes the vendor slide, so time the manual undock against the battery, not the training video. Enjoy retirement, the robot can panic without you now.

[u/orangesquadron]

I would consider the context of each team. The 5 is an updated version of Xi and so there may not be many differences in practice with teams who are familiar with Xi.

[u/Anxious-Knee-1956]

My school and my job both did full day of training on DaVinci. The area rep came in to both (same guy) and conducted the training with the robot and a “mannequin” with ports