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O U T P AT 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 | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4
S U R G I C A L S T A P L I N G
L
aparoscopic procedures
often require surgeons to
position their bodies in
awkward angles and perform
repetitive maneuvers for sev-
eral hours, causing enormous
strain on their hands and bodies. That painful fact is powering the push to design
ergonomic surgical tools that address surgeon fatigue.
Take staplers, for example. A poster, "Comparing the Biomechanical
Characteristics of Manual and Powered Laparoscopic Stapler Designs," present-
ed at the 2012 Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons,
shows that powered stapling devices can reduce surgeon fatigue often experi-
enced when using mechanical staplers and protect surgeons' hands from long-
term damage. The researchers also found that powered devices help surgeons
with smaller hands, particularly females, perform surgery with much greater ease.
This is because, they say, powered stapling instruments demonstrate negligible
staple firing and blade retraction forces when compared to manual staplers.
These factors may increase instrument stability and decrease surgeon fatigue.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut Health
Center and Yale University, found that powered instruments, if properly designed,
may help to control, and possibly eliminate, some of the musculoskeletal issues
inherent to minimally invasive surgeries.
"We have now established a method to assess the biomechanical risks that sur-
geons face when performing minimally invasive surgery," says Donald R. Peterson,
PhD, MS, of the University of Connecticut Health Center Biodynamics Laboratory in the
Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "This should provide invaluable
OR ERGONIMICS
Can Staplers Cause
Surgeon Fatigue?
STRONG SEAL A surgeon
prepares to staple the ves-
sels by the gallbladder.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
