Things that have been seen in the industry during bad de-installs include cable kits being ripped out, lenses getting scratched and pieces ripped apart.

"It's also faster. We like to de-install ourselves if possible because we can go in and do ten rooms in two days with a team of six people," says Ogren. "It's more important than the installation."


Challenges Exist

The O/R lights occupy the most important area of the ceiling, the area right above the patient. However, there are other pieces of equipment that also need this space, including C-arms (both mobile and ceiling-mounted), microscopes and navigation equipment.

"Coordinating how all of these pieces of equipment come together with in-field monitors and ceiling mounted equipment booms is becoming more of a challenge," says Walters. "The O/R ceilings are becoming as crowded as the O/R floors."

Another important aspect in choosing the correct lighting is to determine what sort of cases will be done in the room. Cardio-thoracic rooms usually require three lights because surgeons frequently have a secondary surgical site for vein harvesting. With LED lights, most other specialty surgical rooms only require two lights, even if they currently have three or four lights in the room.

"If the facility is planning to perform large open procedures, then they should consider a large and a medium light head. The large light head can cover the entire surgical site and the medium light head can easily be positioned anywhere extra light is needed," Walters says. "They also will need a light that has a broad spot size adjustment range so they can concentrate the light for smaller, deeper incisions, or widen the light pattern for larger surgical sites. High intensity is also an important requirement. Look for lights with 160,000 lux of intensity, the maximum allowed for surgical lights."

Price and familiarity also come into consideration for hospitals when they are looking to upgrade or change their surgical lights.

"The LED lights are 20% more expensive but when you look at the energy saving, the fact you are using half the energy and you never have to replace bulbs, it's really a win-win," Tomaszewski says. "But we have hospitals that have halogen lighting for six rooms and they are adding two rooms and they don't want to switch technology and have to change out everything so they will just buy two more of halogen, because it is a very good technology."

Keeping Up

Industry experts agree that health care providers should consider a lighting system that is modular and upgradeable.

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