Leading the way in health care

State-of-the-art treatment for kidney problems

A procedure called laparoscopic nephrectomy is improving the way surgeries on the kidneys and adrenal glands are performed at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. Candidates for this minimally invasive procedure include those with tumors or kidney damage due to infection, kidney stones or trauma. The technique involves making several small incisions in the patient’s back to allow doctors to enter with a special viewing tube and remove all or part of the affected area. “After the surgery, most people are out of the hospital in a couple of days,” says Gordon R. Gluckman, M.D., FACS, a urologist at Lutheran General Hospital. With traditional surgery, doctors would need to make an incision about 12 inches long and recovery would require a hospital stay of about a week. “Patients undergoing laparoscopic nephrectomy typically experience less pain, bleeding and scarring,” says Mark Brandt, M.D., a urologist at Lutheran General Hospital. Though not appropriate for everyone, laparoscopic nephrectomy is an option for many patients requiring kidney surgery, including children. Last March, Jeanette Kostak, 67, of Niles had the procedure. “I was out of the hospital in several days with little pain,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better recovery.”

Reducing children’s pain

Pain management in children can be difficult since a child’s body metabolizes medicine differently than an adult’s, affecting dosage, rate of administration and potential for adverse side effects. To meet these challenges, Advocate Lutheran General Children’s Hospital recently developed a program specially designed to manage pediatric pain. Lutheran General Hospital is one of the only hospitals in the Chicago area with this service.

In addition to providing customized pain care, the program offers epidurals when needed for children undergoing surgery. Administration of these pain-relieving shots to this age group requires high-level training. “Administered by pediatric anesthesiologists, the epidurals are extremely safe and result in a faster recovery for many children, including those undergoing outpatient procedures,” says Yuri Aronov, M.D., pediatric anesthesiologist and director of the pediatric pain management service. Children receiving epidurals may require less anesthesia during surgery with fewer side effects, such as nausea and vomiting.

Introducing... a robotic pharmacist

New technology is changing the way many patients are receiving medicine at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. A pharmacy robot has been added, allowing staff to fill up to 10,000 oral medication doses per day. Not only does this mean faster service, but it minimizes the likelihood of medication dispensing errors and gives pharmacists more time to spend with patients.

The robot moves on a 30-foot track that runs along racks housing various medications. Using a bar code system, the robot identifies and retrieves each prescription needed by a patient and places it into an individualized bin. A pharmacy tech then removes the medication from the bin and delivers it to the patient’s room.

Accuracy and safety are greatly increased with the bar code system due to uniformed labeling and compatibility. The robot automatically tracks and restocks drugs when inventories get low and discards medications that are beyond their shelf life or have been recalled.