The following is a list of common medical technology seen in operating rooms. Each technique is given a short description.
Furniture
Furniture is often used in the operating room and serves a variety of roles. Patient beds are used for both transportation and as a flexible platform for surgery. Stretchers are built with side rails and huge casters to securely shift patients across the hospital.
Surgical beds are useful instruments for placing patients during surgery. They are larger and more complicated than transport beds to handle different treatments. Modern beds include mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic systems that enable physicians to place a patient in a variety of positions, including increasing or decreasing the height, tilting to the left or right, Trendelenburg (head down, legs up), and reverse-Trendelenburg.
Arm support boards, leg supports, foot extensions, restraints, and cushioning are examples of surgical bed accessories. These can also be supplied with specialist surgical positioning equipment such as neurosurgical headrests, radiolucent toppers, and the Andrews Frame for spinal surgery. Instrument tables, intravenous (IV) poles, waste storage bins, stools, and seats are other common objects in the OR. In a surgical suite, racks, trolleys, and shelves are often utilized to store medical supplies, surgical equipment, and instruments.
Surgical Drapes
Surgical drapes are used in the operating room to protect the patient, physicians, and equipment. Drapes can be composed of fabric or paper and can be reusable or disposable. Barrier protection efficacy, resistance to ignition, and durability are all important attributes. Operative drapes are used to provide a physical barrier that keeps the surgical area clean. An "ether screen" is a draped wall that is used to provide a barrier between the anesthetic work area at the patient's head and the surgical field. Drapes are also put around the incision site in the surgical field to cover the patient and collect fluids. They can also be used to wrap sterile surgical tools and cover equipment in the operating room.
Anesthesia Supplies
Anesthesia administration necessitates the use of a gas delivery system as well as continuous and precise monitoring of patient physiology. The anesthetic machine is used to provide the patient with a known combination of gases. The gas supply and delivery system, the vaporizer, and the patient breathing circuit are the three primary parts of the anesthetic machine. The anesthesiologist uses a range of devices to monitor the physiology of the sedated patient. Electrocardiograph monitors, pulse oximetry, invasive blood pressure monitors, noninvasive blood pressure monitors, temperature monitors, respiratory gas monitors, and electroencephalograph monitors are examples of physiological monitoring equipment. Infusion devices and fluid warmers are two more pieces of equipment used by the anesthesiology department.
Surgical Equipment
Hand-held tools or implements used by physicians to accomplish surgical procedures are referred to as surgical instruments. An operational suite has a wide range of instruments. Scalpels, forceps, scissors, retractors, clamps, and knives are often used tools. Certain surgical procedures need a more sophisticated set of equipment. In orthopedic surgery, for example, bone saws, files, drills, and mallets are often used. Surgical tools come in a variety of sizes and are often composed of carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, or titanium.
Units for Electrosurgery
The electrosurgical unit, or Bovie, is surgical equipment used to incise tissue, desiccate tissue, and prevent bleeding (hemostasis) by producing blood coagulation. This is performed by using a high-powered, high-frequency generator to generate a radiofrequency (RF) spark between a probe and the surgical site, causing localized heating and tissue damage. An electrosurgical generator has two modes of operation. An active electrode focuses current to the surgical site while a dispersive (return) electrode directs current away from the patient in the monopolar mode. The active and return electrodes are both positioned at the surgical site in bipolar mode.
Defibrillators
A defibrillator is a medical device that uses electricity to shock the heart. The shock is designed to rectify abnormal electrical activity in the heart and restore a regular beat. A sufficient strength and duration shock will induce the cells of the heart to synchronously repolarize, allowing a regular rhythm to resume. The defibrillator stores the needed energy, measured in joules (watts per second), to administer the shock in a capacitor. A direct current power source charges the capacitor to the desired energy level. The electrical shock is delivered to the patient through electrodes. Reusable paddles and sticky electrodes are two kinds of electrodes. External defibrillation is performed on the patient's chest using external electrodes or paddles. When defibrillation is given directly to the heart, an internal paddle set is employed. Patient impedance, energy waveform shape, and electrode type and positioning are all factors that influence defibrillator setup and function. Most defibrillators are equipped with technology that allows them to monitor the patient's ECG signal and perform synchronized cardioversion. The transmission of energy to the heart during ventricular depolarization or the detection of the QRS complex is referred to as synchronized cardioversion. This function protects the patient by preventing energy from being delivered inadvertently during the ventricular refractory phase.
Temperature Control Devices
Temperature monitoring and management are critical for a surgical patient's safety. Although heating and air conditioning controls in the operating room assist to maintain a safe surgical environment, a patient is nevertheless in danger of overheating and, more typically, hypothermia. Contact with conductive surfaces, exposed body cavities, cold irrigation solutions, and convective heat loss owing to the significant movement of air in operating suites can all cause heat loss. Furthermore, the effects of anesthesia can affect the body's natural processes for temperature regulation. To balance a patient's body temperature, many procedures are used. Blankets, sheets, and clothes are classic ways to keep heat in. A blanket warmer, which delivers warmed air to an inflatable blanket encircling the patient, is also used to combat hypothermia. To increase or reduce a patient's temperature, a hyper-hypothermia machine pumps heated or cooled water via a blanket. A fluid warmer is a device that warms intravenous or irrigation fluids before they come into touch with the patient.
Headlamps
In the surgical sector, headlamps are utilized to augment the facility lights. A fiber-optic connection connects the clinician's headlamp gear to a light source. When overhead lights are inadequate or obscured, this adaptable source of light comes in handy.
Tourniquets
A tourniquet is a surgical device used to temporarily restrict blood flow to a region of the body in order to achieve a practically bloodless operating field. A pneumatic tourniquet restricts blood flow by using compressed air and consists of an inflated cuff, connective tubing, pressure source, pressure regulator, and a pressure display. Tourniquets are often utilized during amputations and other orthopedic surgical operations.