Adena’s Dr. Bill Sever named one of nation’s top robotic surgeons
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Press Release-
Adena General Surgeon W.E. Bill Sever, D.O. has achieved national recognition, named recently as an Epicenter of Excellence for Robot-assisted Surgery.
With this distinction, Dr. Sever becomes one of only 21 General Surgery “Epicenters of Excellence” in the nation, and one of just two in Ohio (the other is located in Warren).
The distinction comes from Intuitive Surgical, the maker of the daVinci® Surgical System, and highlights those surgeons who are most skilled in robot-assisted surgery and capable of training others to use the technology.
The designation puts Dr. Sever “among the top half of one-percent of all general surgeons using robotics,” said Jonathan Conta of Intuitive Surgical.
In just three and a half years, Adena’s Robotic Surgery Program has gone from an upstart to becoming nationally recognized. Since it began in October 2012, Adena surgeons have performed nearly 1,200 surgeries using robotics. For more than two years, the program has been one of only eight Case Observation sites in Ohio, hosting surgeons from across the U.S. who come to learn about robot-assisted surgery techniques from Dr. Sever.
Being one of just 21 General Surgery trainers in the nation is quite impressive for someone who only began his own training for robot-assisted surgery in the summer of 2012. A vocal advocate for Adena to purchase the daVinci surgical robot, Dr. Sever set high expectations for himself to help make the program a success.
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“Because I advocated for the robot, I had to use it and become skilled on it,” he said. “It was not an easy task to fully commit to Robotics. I was used to doing six to eight surgeries a day, and learning with the robot slowed me down early on. But I made that commitment, and it’s really pushed me to become very proficient on the robot.”
Dr. Sever was selected as an Epicenter of Excellence based on his reputation as a trainer, the volume and breadth of the surgical cases he performs, and the overall experiences visiting surgeons have when they’ve come to Adena to observe and train.
“We’ve always had very good to great reviews from the visiting surgeons that come in,” Dr. Sever said. “I don’t know if that’s necessarily a reflection upon me… it’s probably more of a reflection on the staff. Intuitive chose us. We didn’t solicit them.”
A Chillicothe-area native, Dr. Sever humbly gives a great deal of credit for his and the Robotic program’s success to his Operating Room team and his colleagues at Adena.
“We have a tremendous breadth of talent and youth throughout our medical staff here at Adena, and I’m just one of those individuals,” he said. “If my folks get sick, I don’t think about taking them anywhere else -- to some person that I don’t know. I’d much rather go to the people I know, and I know what their skills are.”
Soon to perform his own 1,000th robotic procedure, Dr. Sever is anxious to see Adena’s Robotic Surgery program expand.
“Personally, I want to see more of us (surgeons) get up and running,” he said. “The thing that would probably make me smile, would be in two to three years, to have our volume demand that we purchase two or three more robots.”
Robot-assisted surgery enables the surgeon to work in very small spaces within the body, and requires just a couple of very small incisions for instrument entry. Patients generally have less pain, minimal scarring and are back to their regular routines much faster.
Since Adena began its Robotic Surgery Program in late 2012, the number of patients receiving robot-assisted surgery has increased quarter to quarter, with about 500 robot-assisted surgeries performed in 2015. With robotic surgery, most patients spend less time in the hospital and experience faster recover times. In 2015, Dr. Sever’s patients spent 205 fewer days in the hospital (than had they received traditional surgery), thanks to the benefits of robot-assisted surgery.
For more information about Adena Health System and its services, visit adena.org or follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @adenamedical.
With this distinction, Dr. Sever becomes one of only 21 General Surgery “Epicenters of Excellence” in the nation, and one of just two in Ohio (the other is located in Warren).
The distinction comes from Intuitive Surgical, the maker of the daVinci® Surgical System, and highlights those surgeons who are most skilled in robot-assisted surgery and capable of training others to use the technology.
The designation puts Dr. Sever “among the top half of one-percent of all general surgeons using robotics,” said Jonathan Conta of Intuitive Surgical.
In just three and a half years, Adena’s Robotic Surgery Program has gone from an upstart to becoming nationally recognized. Since it began in October 2012, Adena surgeons have performed nearly 1,200 surgeries using robotics. For more than two years, the program has been one of only eight Case Observation sites in Ohio, hosting surgeons from across the U.S. who come to learn about robot-assisted surgery techniques from Dr. Sever.
Being one of just 21 General Surgery trainers in the nation is quite impressive for someone who only began his own training for robot-assisted surgery in the summer of 2012. A vocal advocate for Adena to purchase the daVinci surgical robot, Dr. Sever set high expectations for himself to help make the program a success.
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“Because I advocated for the robot, I had to use it and become skilled on it,” he said. “It was not an easy task to fully commit to Robotics. I was used to doing six to eight surgeries a day, and learning with the robot slowed me down early on. But I made that commitment, and it’s really pushed me to become very proficient on the robot.”
Dr. Sever was selected as an Epicenter of Excellence based on his reputation as a trainer, the volume and breadth of the surgical cases he performs, and the overall experiences visiting surgeons have when they’ve come to Adena to observe and train.
“We’ve always had very good to great reviews from the visiting surgeons that come in,” Dr. Sever said. “I don’t know if that’s necessarily a reflection upon me… it’s probably more of a reflection on the staff. Intuitive chose us. We didn’t solicit them.”
A Chillicothe-area native, Dr. Sever humbly gives a great deal of credit for his and the Robotic program’s success to his Operating Room team and his colleagues at Adena.
“We have a tremendous breadth of talent and youth throughout our medical staff here at Adena, and I’m just one of those individuals,” he said. “If my folks get sick, I don’t think about taking them anywhere else -- to some person that I don’t know. I’d much rather go to the people I know, and I know what their skills are.”
Soon to perform his own 1,000th robotic procedure, Dr. Sever is anxious to see Adena’s Robotic Surgery program expand.
“Personally, I want to see more of us (surgeons) get up and running,” he said. “The thing that would probably make me smile, would be in two to three years, to have our volume demand that we purchase two or three more robots.”
Robot-assisted surgery enables the surgeon to work in very small spaces within the body, and requires just a couple of very small incisions for instrument entry. Patients generally have less pain, minimal scarring and are back to their regular routines much faster.
Since Adena began its Robotic Surgery Program in late 2012, the number of patients receiving robot-assisted surgery has increased quarter to quarter, with about 500 robot-assisted surgeries performed in 2015. With robotic surgery, most patients spend less time in the hospital and experience faster recover times. In 2015, Dr. Sever’s patients spent 205 fewer days in the hospital (than had they received traditional surgery), thanks to the benefits of robot-assisted surgery.
For more information about Adena Health System and its services, visit adena.org or follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @adenamedical.