all the available
options." She adds, "it
can become a burden
to the busy circulator
— the more it controls
the more the RN has
to learn and control."
Older nurses may
have more difficulty.
Many agree with our
Hawaii OR manager,
who says "There is a
generation gap with
user competency."
The systems can be
bulky and unwieldy.
"The hardware must
be stored in the OR
rather than in an IT
closet, taking up addi-
tional space," says
Baylor's Mr. Smith.
Michael Porco, RN, a
nurse educator with
Concordia Hospital in Winnipeg, says with his system, "The exposed
wires make it impossible to clean."
Some systems are not very reliable. The systems have gone down
"many times" at a hospital in Birmingham, Ala., says a staffer there.
The system occasionally "freezes up" at a center in Indianapolis, Ind.,
a staffer says. "It crashes and freezes often," says a staff member at a
J U N E 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 8 3
• TOUCH PANEL-CONTROL Integrated ORs let the circulator control everything
from the video to the checklists from one desk in the OR.
