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T A B L E S
"Surgeons want firm, sturdy pads so patients won't sink down when they're placing hardware or implants firmly into place."
— Kate Gillespie, MBA, RN, NE-BC
joint.
Techs and nurses, on the other hand, want different things from a table. How easy is it to remove and secure attachments into place? How easy is it to get patients on and off of the table? Can the table easily accommodate a C-arm? What about the table's weight capacity? Ours have a 600-pound weight limit. When you shop for a table, keep in mind that you'll likely be treating many obese patients. The last thing you want is to cancel a case because your table can't accommodate a patient's weight.
Of all the equipment we purchased for our new joint replacement center, our surgeons were most interested in inspecting the tables to ensure that they'd work for them individually. In fact, they insisted on it. The rest of the equipment we easily reached a consensus on. Not the tables, however. Our docs wanted to see them in action and play with all the buttons. Talk about an hour well spent.
About those pads
We ended up buying 2 different types of tables from a single vendor: 3 top-of-the-line ortho tables and 1 slightly more expensive table that came with a slider to accommodate our anterior approach surgeon. All 4 surgeons can use both types of tables. We priced out attachments, but ended up negotiating them into the bundled purchase price.
As the administrator, I was certainly concerned about the price, the warranties and the timeline for delivery. As a new facility, we had to have the tables in place for our department of health inspection. Thankfully, our vendor delivered on time.
Four of our 6 ORs are open 4 days a
