An infant surgical table for laser photocoagulation: ergonomic improvement analysis

Unpacking the Broad Landscape of Intraoperative Stressors for Clinical Personnel: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

Purpose

The main goals of this mixed-methods systematic review are to identify what types of intraoperative stressors for operating room personnel have been reported in collected studies and examine the characteristics of each intraoperative stressor.

Methods

With a systematic literature search, we retrieved empirical studies examining intraoperative stress published between 2010 and 2020. To synthesize findings, we applied two approaches. First, a textual narrative synthesis was employed to summarize key study information of the selected studies by focusing on surgical platforms and study participants. Second, a thematic synthesis was employed to identify and characterize intraoperative stressors and their subtypes.

Results

Ninety-four studies were included in the review. Regarding the surgical platforms, the selected studies mainly focused on minimally invasive surgery and few studies examined issues around robotic surgery. Most studies examined intra-operative stress from surgeons' perspectives but rarely considered other clinical personnel such as nurses and anesthetists. Among seven identified stressors, technical factors were the most frequently examined followed by individual, operating room environmental, interpersonal, temporal, patient, and organizational factors.

Conclusion

By presenting stressors as multifaceted elements affecting collaboration and interaction between multidisciplinary team members in the operating room, we discuss the potential interactions between stressors which should be further investigated to build a safe and efficient environment for operating room personnel.

Design and development of an ergonomic neonatal surgical table

In many regions, neonatal surgical procedures are conducted on adult-sized tables because neonatal surgical tables are rare. The objective of this study was to design and develop an ergonomic neonatal surgical table to help neonatal and infant surgeons avoid musculoskeletal disorders and improve effectiveness with neonatal surgeries. AutoCAD design software was used for the design in addition to other production engineering procedures like material selection and acquisition, cutting, welding, and drilling. The design utilised the anthropometric measures of a target user population. The device consists of a table surface, a surface adjustment lever, a linear actuator, and the foot pedal for adjusting table height and was observed to be ergonomically appropriate for the surveyed demographic. The adjustability of the table height, which is an important feature of the design, is also expected to permit a wide range of users who may not have been part of the study. The result of this study has the potential of creating a safer work environment for surgeons who attend to neonates, as well as supporting future studies on the ergonomics of neonatal surgeries.