b'ROBOTIC SURGERY LEADERS A smart phone app for patients receivingINNOVATIVE LIVER CLINIC home dialysis is helping them feel connected to clinicians. Patients simply select the emojiAND RESEARCH1998 - Nepean Hospital surgeon Associatewhich best represents their feeling after a Professor Patrick Cregan was the first indialysis session at home. In pilot studies, thePatients with fatty liver disease and liver cancer Australia and only the sixth in the worldapp was shown to give clinicians a real timeare increasingly presenting with comorbidities to remotely control a robot to perform aand accurate indicator of the patients conditionincluding obesity and diabetes.cholecystectomya procedure to remove theand if follow up calls or visits were needed.gall bladder. Associate Professor Martin Weltman 2013 - First da Vinci robot-assisted surgery at aREVOLUTIONARY PATIENT- heads the Nepean Hospital Department of public hospital in NSW. At Nepean Hospital theGastroenterology and Hepatology clinical robot has been used in prostatectomies andFOCUSED CARE and research programs in non-alcoholic removing head and neck cancers. steatohepatitis (NASH) - a fast progressing form 2018 - First Australian public hospital to use theThe award winning Patients Voice projectof non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.Flex Robotic System. The System expands ourempowers patients to provide feedback to surgeons capacity to perform keyhole surgeryclinical staff and guide the discussion duringThese patients are unable to benefit from in more procedures and on more patients whothe shift handover each day. The model of careor respond to many established treatments, wouldnt otherwise be able to benefit fromdeveloped at Nepean Hospital is now beingincluding existing drug treatments and liver minimally invasive colorectal, head and neckrolled out across NSW and in other states. transplants.and other surgery. LEADERS IN SURGICALThe Department applies clinical research and innovative, collaborative, clinical practices to TELEHEALTH PIONEERS SAFETY help these patients. Clinical research includes DNA and RNA analysis of patient blood and Orthopaedic patients in our regional areas canIn 2015 Nepean Hospital pioneered theother samples to help inform better therapeutic access the expertise of specialists at Nepeanintroduction in Australia of the National Surgicaltreatments (pharmacogenetics).Hospital via video link without interrupting theirQuality Improvement Program (NSQIP) to recovery at other hospitals or in their homes. analyse surgical outcomes to help improve theTeaching and training the next generation of lives of patients. The US based program is usedclinicians is also a key focus of the Department Patients being treated for Tuberculosis (TB)by over 600 hospitals around the world. with senior medical trainees and students require daily monitoring which previously meantattached to the clinical and research programs.a trip to a clinic, now a TB nurse checks on patients daily via a video link, helping patients continue their lives without interruption.RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY 49'