Tips from the experts: OR

March 01, 2013

Preventative maintenance needs to be done – even on new equipment.
“It’s analogous to buying a new car, and performing zero preventative maintenance while it is under warranty, expecting everything to function just fine despite ignoring oil changes, tire rotation, air/oil filters, tune ups, etc,” says Bob Adair with Medsource CES, an Oklahoma City-based OR product distributor and servicer.

Temperature and humidity should be just right.
“Most of the time facilities forget that having an OR too cold or too hot is harmful,” Jeovanni Rivas with CEMC Clinical Engineering tells DOTmed News. “It creates moisture that will shorten the life of equipment.” Rivas says the ideal temperature range is between 68 and 73 degrees Fahrenheit, at 30 percent to 60 percent humidity.

Use the right cleaning agents.
“I’ve seen housekeepers pouring chemicals on the equipment without realizing what kind of damage they are doing,” Rivas says. He says to make sure you use appropriate products in the correct way.

Go LED.
LED lights average about 50,000 hours of use versus 1,500 hours from the halogen bulb, according to Matthew Cameron, director of DRE Biomedical Field Services. LED lights also consume less electricity. “Investing in LED medical lighting is a great way to maximize the longevity of your surgery lights and gain the benefits of newer technology,” Cameron says.