But what's the best way to figure out how a boom will actually fit in
your own OR? Ms. Spivey says that, given the availability of a support
structure, it's possible to install booms for trials. To many facilities,
though, surgical or construction schedules make this impractical. And
while manufacturers can provide drawn plans and even 3D renderings,
"walking through an OR is a great way for surgeons to truly get a feel
for the space," says Ms. Spivey.
"We figured out the footprint and put cardboard shapes on the
floor," says Mr. Ano. "This is the base — we taped it down — these
are the arms, this is the floor space and air space they'll take up. The
big thing with any boom system is, you've got to check your clear-
ances," he says. "You don't want your thousand-dollar monitor to
crash into the wall every day, and you have to make sure the boom
doesn't rotate into movable equipment."
In the end, installing a boom system comes down to knowing what
you need and collaborating with manufacturers, equipment planners
and/or builders to get it. "It's their space," says Ms. Spivey. "We tell
them, 'You're the one that's going to live here for 8 to 10 hours a day.
Let's talk about how we can make it work.'" OSM
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E-mail dbernard@outpatientsurgery.net.
