Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Queasy Feeling - April 2017 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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surgical field. Here's what to look for as you begin your search. 1. Light quality and intensity. The bulb option you choose — halogen, light-emitting diode (LED), metal halide, xenon — will likely be determined by the kind of surgery you do. Surgeons who do mostly "surface work" will be fine with a lower light output — a lower lux, as it's called — while general and spine surgeons will require a stronger, tighter beam with more focused illumination. LEDs are today's "hottest" headlight technology, says Brian McLaughlin, MS, MBA, CCE, clinical engineering manager for periop- erative services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass. As a clinical engineer, Mr. McLaughlin appreciates the cost and main- tenance advantages that LEDs offer. "The light is steady, and the degradation curve is more or less flat until the lamp fails," he says. "Some surgeons may prefer the high-intensity xenon lights versus LEDs, but in general you're seeing a move toward LEDs. The old-style lamps burn out much more frequently, and the inten- sity declines over time." LED lights are also significantly cooler to the touch, making the sur- geon more comfortable in the course of a long surgery. They also eliminate the fire risk from a light source, says Thomas Durick, MD, staff anesthesiologist at Freemont (Calif.) Surgery Center. "I once saw a surgeon who was doing a lap chole put [a light cord from a head- light] down for 4 seconds, and it burned a hole through the drape and the patient's gown." 2. Power source. You've essentially got 2 options here: tethered and untethered. Tethered headlights, which are connected by cables to an independent power source, provide maximum illumination and A P R I L 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 8 3

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