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These days, Mr. Cooper swears by the portable suction units that capture fluid
runoff before it hits the floor and are drained at docking stations. They can be
wheeled from OR to OR and have more than enough capacity to handle the vast
majority of arthroscopy cases.
"Ours holds up to 24 liters total," says Mr. Cooper. "On a couple of occasions,
we've had to pull in a second one to finish a case, but it doesn't happen very
often. You need a long and complicated case to reach that kind of volume."
How rare is the arthroscopic case that exceeds that capacity?
"I've yet to see one fill up before the case is over," says Jimmy Henderson,
the materials manager at the Outpatient Center of Jonesboro (Ark.), also a fan
of the closed portable large-capacity suction devices. "We have 4 of them, and
we keep them pretty busy. We just did 12 arthroscopy cases today."
If there's a drawback, it's that the devices are large enough to intensify the
crowded feeling in smaller operating rooms. But their convenience and the
peace of mind they provide generally draw rave reviews. The fluid goes directly
into it, so you never have to worry about dumping those fluids. Plus, it's hooked
up to evacuate through the plumbing, so you never have to worry about being
splashed or exposed to bodily fluids.
Direct-to-drain options also include wall-mounted systems that automatically
collect surgical fluids and dispose of them directly into your facility's plumbing
system. They have unlimited capacity, so they're never full and there's never a
need to change canisters. They also free up space in crowded ORs and can mini-
mize traffic in and out, because they don't need to be removed from the room to
be emptied.
In addition to being more convenient, both kinds of direct-to-drain systems
are also more environmentally friendly. The most common alternative — solidi-
fying the liquid and having it hauled away — means that both the waste and the
canisters that contain the solid waste end up in a landfill.
Direct-to-drain systems can also reduce room turnover times by eliminating
