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V I D E O
M O N I T O R S
provide an advantage outside the sterile field. You don't need to pay
$15,000 for a wall-mounted display, when you can splash out $2,000
on the best 52- or 60-inch consumer video monitor and do just as well.
Within the sterile field, though? Not only must your video monitors be
medical grade, the extra money is worth it — the higher contrast and
better image quality you'll generally see (without paying extra for a
special contrast feature) justifies the higher price tag when compared
with consumer displays.
4. Multiple-angle clarity
If scrub staff complain about distortion and darkness in display
images when they're off-angle, you might want to look into video
monitors that feature multiple-angle clarity.
These occurrences aren't as bad with plasma displays, but those are
disappearing from ORs because they age a lot faster, generate more
heat, draw a lot of power and are more likely to suffer image retention
(in which an image is "burned" into the display). Plasma displays cost
less and tend to be produced in larger-sizes — 42 inches and above —
but you won't find much of that in the surgical field, where most video
monitors are limited to 26 inches. Plasmas usually aren't sold at that
size.
LCDs, on the other hand, are now available in sizes through 100
inches (and without the drawbacks of plasma), making them a great
candidate for your wall-mounted displays as well as for the surgical
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J A N U A R Y 2013
