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Outpatient Surgery E-Weekly

Malpractice Verdicts Often Favor Physicians

Physicians come out on the winning end of 80% of malpractice claims that end in jury verdicts, according to researchers at Massachusetts General Hos...

Study: CT Colongraphy Effective in Finding Polyps

A CT-scan-based, laxative-free "virtual colonoscopy" may be as effective as standard colonoscopy in finding potentially cancerous polyps, according ...

Wrong-Site Prevention Video Shows the Right Way

Wrong-site, wrong-patient and wrong-procedure surgery must be prevented at all costs. The 3 steps of the Joint Commission's Universal Protocol make ...

Archive > September, 2004 Vol. V, No. 9

Troubleshooting Your Laparoscope's Hitches and Glitches

Readers share their tips for fixing everything from fog to flickering monitors.

Dianne Taylor, Contributing Editor

You're in the middle of a laparoscopic procedure. Suddenly, the picture is flickering, and the screen goes blank. Now what?

Download the SAGES complete Laparoscopy Troubleshooting Guide at writeOutLink("www.sages.org",1)
> SAGES Store
>> Troubleshooting Chart

Problems such as flickering, blurring, distortion, fog and blank monitors not only delay surgery, extend anesthesia time and increase stress but also, in the worst of cases, can lead to iatrogenic injury. Almost half (48 percent) of the responders to an Outpatient Surgery survey (n=60) say they experience laparoscopy problems "occasionally" and another 11 percent say they deal with them "regularly." We asked a panel of our readers to share their best troubleshooting tips.

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Categories: General Surgery, Equipping Your OR, Imaging, Reader Surveys
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