focus on health
:::Surgical Care:::
Questions & Answers
About General surgery
Focus on Health sat down with three general surgeons at Glen Cove Hospital to discuss the highlights
of the hospital’s general surgery program.
What minimally invasive procedures are available at
Glen Cove Hospital?
A: Daniel Galvin, DO: Glen Cove Hospital features the full gamut of minimally invasive general surgical procedures, including hernia repair, gallbladder removal, appendectomy and colorectal procedures. In some cases where traditional open surgery is indicated, we are able to perform a hybrid laparoscopic-to-open procedure. The laparoscopic approach is shown to minimize the risk of complications, shorten recovery times, reduce postoperative pain and improve overall patient outcomes.
Is minimally invasive surgery the only type of general surgery available at Glen Cove Hospital?
A: Michael Grieco, MD: The general surgeons at Glen Cove Hospital perform minimally invasive operations when they are appropriate and also many complex open operations that require techniques laparoscopy cannot safely replicate. What makes our surgeons unique is their experience and advanced training in both surgical approaches as compared to many surgeons today that lack the expertise in traditional open operations.
Consumer Reports rated Glen Cove Hospital among the nation’s best facilities in preventing bloodstream infections, citing a zero-percent infection rate for four years and counting. What do you attribute this to?
A: Brian Pinard, MD, chair of surgery: In terms of surgery, preventing infections comes down to proper technique. We strictly follow all of the guidelines established by the American College of Surgeons as part of the hospital’s wider quality improvement initiative. Postoperatively, Glen Cove Hospital’s nursing staff is excellent at delivering care to patients after surgery and very closely follow the national guidelines for administering antibiotics.
A Heritage of
Advanced Surgery
General surgeons at Glen Cove Hospital are on the forefront of minimally invasive general surgery. Glen Cove Hospital was the site of some of the first laparoscopic general surgeries performed in the United States
in the early 1990s.
Michael Grieco, MD, general and colorectal surgeon at Glen Cove Hospital, was one of three surgeons from the North Shore-LIJ Health System to travel to Tennessee in 1990, where Nashville-based surgeon Eddie Joe Reddick, MD, was performing the first stateside laparoscopic cholecystectomies (gallbladder removals). Dr. Reddick learned the minimally invasive technique in France and pioneered its application in the US.
“That was essentially the beginning of laparoscopic surgery in the US,” Dr. Grieco said. “The three of us who trained under
Dr. Reddick subsequently brought laparoscopic cholecystectomy to the northeast, performing the procedure first at North Shore University Hospital, then right
here at Glen Cove Hospital.”
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