Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/703764
readers we surveyed, you're sticking with your current video setup for 5 to 10 years before you replace it. And during that time, your docs are likely telling anyone who'll listen about the latest big and bright (and pricey) cameras and monitors they need to have in their ORs. But with these new platforms seemingly arriving every few months, how can you possibly keep up? To help you get a grip on what's worth the splurge and what you can wait to purchase, here is what some of your colleagues who've recent- ly held trials are saying about the latest technologies. 4K is on the way Promising brighter, clearer images, 4K is making a splash in the surgical video world. The technology has 4 times the resolution and depicts more true-to-life colors than full 1080p HD video. But facility managers don't seem convinced of the need to upgrade to 4K just yet. Our survey found that only about 9% of respondents have adopted 4K or are planning to this year, while 59% say it's something they might consider down the road. Though more than 70% agree that 4K has the potential to improve visual- ization and increase surgeon satisfaction, managers are still hesitant. With few vendors offering "full 4K" systems — which include both monitors and cameras that capture the ultra high-definition images — many say they're holding off until competition increases and prices start coming down. 4K may not be for every specialty. Take orthopedics, for example. When the Southwest Ambulatory Surgery Center in Byron Center, Mich., trialed 4K, the reviews were mixed. In orthopedic cases with a lot of fluid, it was hard to see the difference between 4K and HD, says Lyle Phelps, BSN, RN, the ASC's administrator. "We found that the 4K blurred the image to the HD level for those cases," he says. "For general surgery, ENT surgery and hand procedures, there was a noticeably brighter picture. But our focus is in orthopedics, so it didn't make sense for us to spend the additional 7 6 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U L Y 2 0 1 6