Don’t neglect the scheduling of regular maintenance for your OR’s technology, particularly if that technology is the tool that gives your physicians a view on their procedures.
Eric Haas, MD, FACS, the program director of minimally invasive colon and rectal surgery at the University of Texas, Houston, equates maintenance with marketing to your physicians in a "Thinking of Buying …" column on endoscopic camera systems from September’s Outpatient Surgery Magazine.
"When new, an endoscopic camera’s lenses are treated with a protective film that resists fogging during use, but over time, as the film wears away, the lenses tend to fog up more often, resulting in hazy images," says Dr. Haas, who’s also a partner with Colorectal Surgical Associates in Houston. "This means the surgeon or his first assistant will have to keep withdrawing the scope from the surgical site, wiping off the lens and replacing it, and there are few things more frustrating during minimally invasive surgery."
"If a physician knows he’ll have to struggle with a camera, he may go elsewhere," remarks Dr. Haas, but "a few dollars of regular maintenance can maintain your surgeons’ attendance in your ORs."
—David Bernard
