Newswise — October 3, 2018 ― Brick, NJ ― Hackensack Meridian Health Ocean Medical Center recently performed its 1,000th robotic surgery, a significant milestone for the Center for Robotic Surgery. Colon and rectal surgeon, Thomas R. Lake, M.D., FACS, FASCRS, performed the robotic-assisted low anterior resection procedure using the da Vinci® Xi™, the latest technology in minimally invasive surgery.
“It is such an impressive achievement to mark 1,000 robotic surgical cases. I am so proud of our Ocean Medical Center team. We are establishing ourselves as a center of excellence in robotic surgery in the community and in Ocean County,” said Dean Q. Lin, MBA, FACHE, FCPP, regional president of Hackensack Meridian Health and president of Ocean Medical Center. “Our progress and growth over the past few years has been possible thanks to the expertise, passion and commitment of our surgeons and our amazing surgical team.”
Robotic surgery is a minimally invasive technique that is performed by Ocean Medical Center’s highly skilled and specialized surgeons. Robotic surgery is used for a wide range of treatments and conditions in specialties such as: colorectal, general surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, thoracic, urology and urogynecology and pelvic reconstruction. The robotics team takes a highly collaborative approach to patient care, working with nurses and the entire robotics team to coordinate the best possible outcomes.
“The number of robotics cases has steadily increased since the Robotic Surgery Program began in 2013,” says Robotic Committee Chair Pierre Mendoza, M.D. “Reaching the 1,000th robotic case is a tremendous accomplishment that demonstrates the team’s determination to deliver superior care and a level of expertise not available through all robotic programs in New Jersey.”
Robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery enables surgeons to perform the most complex and delicate procedures through very small incisions with precision. Patients benefit from a faster recovery, shorter hospital stay, less blood loss, less risk of infection, smaller incisions with less scaring, and a quicker return to daily activities.
For more information about the Center for Robotic Surgery at Ocean Medical Center, visit https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/services/robotic-assisted-surgery/or call 1-732-840-2200.
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH OCEAN MEDICAL CENTER Located in Brick, Hackensack Meridian Health Ocean Medical Center has been ranked #8 in New Jersey and #17 in the New York Metro area by U.S. News & World Report in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Serving southern Monmouth and Ocean counties, Ocean Medical Center is an advanced care hospital that offers the convenience and easy access of a community hospital with the high technology advances and expertise of a major medical center featuring expert care coordinated by a team of top specialists in emergency, cardio vascular, women’s health, cancer and orthopedic services. Delivering on this promise, Ocean Medical Center recently opened an innovative medical-surgical floor equipped with 36 private patient beds that integrates technology and design to transform the patient experience and empower patients to return to their lives as soon as possible. This forward thinking renovation project completed the $82 million expansion including the 44,300 square foot state-of-the-art Hirair and Anna Hovnanian Emergency Care Center and a new comprehensive Cancer Center. Ocean Medical Center officially became a premier community-based teaching hospital with the launch of its inaugural class of family medicine and psychiatry residents. Future medical education developments include the addition of an Internal Medicine residency program in spring 2019. The medical center provides 24/7 obstetrical hospitalist coverage and a dedicated obstetrical emergency department to enhance the continuity of care for women and their infants. Certified by the Joint Commission as an accredited orthopedic program, Ocean Medical Center is a designation for orthopedic joint replacements where more than 1,000 joint replacements are done annually. Other key services include: designation as a Primary Stroke Center; brain lab neurological surgery, DaTscan and advanced imaging technology; da Vinci® robotic surgery; general thoracic and vascular surgery; one of the nation’s most advanced cardiac catheterization laboratories and cardiac services; acute care of the elderly; and critical care services. The medical center has achieved Magnet® recognition, one of the highest and most prestigious distinctions a health care organization can receive for nursing excellence and high-quality patient care and has received the 2018 Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award for superior safety performance. Ocean Medical Center received the highest score in the hospital network for team member engagement in the Great Places To Work® survey. Additional certifications and awards include: 2018 Get with the Guidelines® continuous quality improvement awards for Heart Failure Gold Plus Award, Stroke Gold Plus and Stroke Honor Roll Elite Awards, the 2018 ACTION Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award and the 2016 Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award. The medical center also operates the state’s first satellite Emergency Care Center in Point Pleasant, the Ocean Care Center, and hospital-based programs at Jackson Health Village.
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.
Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 16 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals - Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.
Additionally, the network has more than 450 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has 33,000 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.
The network’s notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” one of the “20 Best Workplaces in Health Care” in the nation, and the number one “Best Place to Work for Women.” The network was also named to Becker’s Healthcare’s “150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2018” list.
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of 60 students from a pool of more than 2,100 applicants in 2018 to the On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Hackensack Meridian Health formed a partnership that brings together two world-class organizations with deep New Jersey roots and a single goal: Finding more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it. To achieve this goal, the new Memorial Sloan Kettering-Hackensack Meridian Health partnership will combine both organizations’ unparalleled expertise in all areas of cancer care and research as well as their commitment to excellence, to accelerate new discoveries and improve the lives of patients they jointly serve while training a new generation of leaders in the field.
Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.
For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.
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