By Timothy Carrigan

From operating rooms, endoscopic suites and catheterization labs, to cardio and neurosurgery rooms, the need is clear: medical professionals require quick access to imagery, with the greatest clarity possible.

4K ultra high definition resolution monitors offer considerable value in medical environments where minute details matter and video imagery may be subjected to close-up inspection.



In general, 4K UHD refers to an input source, display panel or projector that has four times the resolution of high definition video. 4K resolutions significantly enhance an operator’s ability to monitor finely detailed imagery. It also defines much broader color depth, resulting in deeper, richer colors and a more lifelike viewing experience.

The new breed of 4K UHD monitors, projectors, set top boxes, media players and video processors are being hailed as the next generation video standard. However, the limitations imposed by human vision raise some interesting questions about 4K UHD deployments. What applications can benefit most from higher pixel density?

Below are four ways in which 4K can benefit medical facilities by improving quality of care, surgical efficiency and patient safety.

1. Improve operating room results
Human vision is confined to a narrow spectrum of wavelengths and resolutions. The eye is capable of resolving various densities and sizes of pixels, but this ability is greatly affected by the distance between the operator and display, i.e., the “viewing distance.”

Display devices are available in a wide range of sizes. The smaller the screen or monitor, the more densely packed its pixels will be and the closer the end user would need to be to discern a visible difference between lower and higher resolution imagery. With 4K UHD, medical personnel who need to clearly see pertinent information in an operating room can see incremental details on a monitor that are not viewable without 4K technology.

2. Oversee patients with unified monitoring stations
Affordable 4K UHD monitors are increasingly being used with 4K UHD video processors to create “desktop wall” workstations for operators. Offering 8.3 million pixels for display, a desktop wall provides sufficient resolution for even the most demanding applications.

For example, a cardiac unit can monitor hundreds of heart patients’ vitals while zooming in and flagging specific cases without losing sight of other pertinent data.

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