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in some cases, duck under. For an arthroscopy case, add runoff fluid into the
hazardous floor equation.
It was easy to make the case for safety. As our hospital planned the OR remod-
eling, we brought the project manager for a visit into one of the rooms that had
been set up for a shoulder arthroscopy case. "Look at all the equipment and all
the cords in this room," we told him. "Now imagine 6 more people in here. Plus,
the lights will be dimmed so the docs can see the monitors." He couldn't believe
that we didn't routinely end up in traction.
Probably the most valuable upgrade that our remodeling brought, from a safe-
ty standpoint, was the installation of equipment booms. Sure, the main selling
point of booms is to put your lights, monitors and control equipment within
arm's reach, centrally operated and easily movable to where they're needed. But
their self-contained structures, whether ceiling- or floor-mounted, free up a lot
of space that would otherwise be occupied by the carts and towers we'd have to
push around and plug in.
Booms keep your floors free of tangled cords. The power cables for your
laparoscopic, orthopedic or other devices installed on the boom's arms or
shelves are threaded through the unit, not draped across the room. If there's
additional equipment to plug in, outlets built into the boom unit provide closer
power than the edges of the room.
We consulted with several manufacturers when planning our remodeling, and
took a look at the booms they offered, but in the end, service was our chief con-
cern. Which vendors and which reps were sure to back their equipment? As we
worked toward the ideal of the integrated OR, we chose booms made by the
same company that provided our monitors and controls, so there would be one
company to call for maintenance and repair.
If your budget, your schedule or your OR's structure can't accommodate an
equipment boom, there are alternatives for keeping exposed cords under con-
trol and reducing their hazard to employee traffic. Corralling the cords into a
beveled protective cover or other bundling organizer, or simply taping them to
