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/726435
here are some tips to ensure a smooth trial. 1. Cast a wide net. We invited 4 vendors that recently launched new cordless headlights to participate in our trial. We asked each vendor to let us trial 2 or 3 of their headlights for 2 to 3 weeks. We trialed each headlight concurrently so that our doctors could focus on each prod- uct. We tried to tackle each surgical service so we got feedback from as many surgeons, especially the heavy hitters, as we could. Neurology one week. Orthopedics the next. Just know 2 things going in: You can't please every last one of your doctors, and some will resist change. 2. Document surgeons' impressions. You'll want a record of your doctors' impressions of each light they trial. Keep it simple. We creat- ed an evaluation form that asks 3 yes-or-no questions: Was the prod- uct easy to use? Was the product clinically acceptable? Would you recommend the purchase of this product? If a doctor answers no to any of these questions, the form asks him to detail his objection. We also leave a space for comments. A sure sign a doctor didn't care for a headlight? You find it sitting, unused, on the counter in the OR and the doctor wearing his old reliable headlight. 3. Trial the headlights during surgery. We asked our surgeons to trial each headlight in real situations to make sure its depth of focus, width of illumination, intensity of light and stability — the light shouldn't drift — met with their approval. One surgeon liked a head- light he trialed so much that he got upset when I told him he couldn't keep it. 4. Remember that comfort is key. If quality of light is the No. 1 fac- tor in choosing a surgical headlight, comfort is a close second. Remember, a headlight is a piece of wearable equipment, and "the longer you wear it, the more uncomfortable it will get." Your surgeons will be drawn to lightweight, absorbent headbands, padded pressure points, ventilated construction and eyewear compatibility. The battery 1 4 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6