Testing LED lighting at Florida Hospital

Healthcare Purchasing News ,  March, 2008   by Tom McLaren THE HOSPITAL Florida Hospital

HE PROBLEM The facility seeks cutting-edge technology to enhance patient care and stay at the forefront of innovation.

THE SOLUTION Served as a beta testing site for an advanced LED surgical lighting system

Click Here to See Medical Operating Room Lighting

As the director of surgical services at Florida Hospital, I can tell you that the light-emitting diode, or LED, is one of those advancements in operating room technology that truly deserves to be called a breakthrough. Our surgeons tested STERIS Corporation's Harmony[R] LED Lighting and Visualization System and found it provided some undeniable improvements to their work.

The challenge

Florida Hospital is a market leader in a high-growth region of a high-growth state. Walt Disney World is just a few miles away and numerous companies have settled here. But Florida Hospital Orlando, the flagship of Adventist Health System with headquarters in Winter Park, is no overnight wonder. It will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year. And despite all we have achieved in the last century, we are not resting on our laurels. We are constantly seeking ways to enhance safety, quality and the satisfaction of our patients, physicians and staff.

We have been chosen as one of the nation's best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report since 1999 and we aim to retain that distinction. One way to keep on our toes is by embracing effective innovations. For example, in 1971, Florida Hospital was the first in the nation to install a laminar air flow room that revolutionized joint replacement surgery; and in 1973 the hospital became one of the nation's first users of a CT scanner. Florida Hospital is intentionally structured to embrace relationships that allow for innovation through a special division, the Strategic Venture Group, whose mission is to develop and manage Strategic Alliances with companies who embrace cutting edge technologies and share a vision to improve healthcare.

Our Strategic Venture Group creates Strategic Alliance Partnerships with companies like STERIS that are developing the next big thing. "With Alliance partners, we continue to develop our abilities and core competencies, which in turn provide a benefit to our community and the healthcare industry,'said Donna Lamb, director for strategic alliances for the Strategic Venture Group.

The test

When STERIS asked Florida Hospital to be a beta testing site for its Harmony LED surgical lights, we eagerly agreed. I have known and trusted STERIS and its predecessor for more than 30 years. We already use STERIS products, such as booms and other OR equipment, that are complementary to the Harmony LED light. I have been very pleased with STERIS's maintenance record, training and education. With the Harmony LED lights project, STERIS did not let us down.

According to STERIS, the company is entering the surgical LED lighting market with the "next generation" light, meaning the company has examined problems and glitches with first generation LED lights and developed a product that addresses them.

Our surgeons tested the Harmony LED light in two of our ORs for about six weeks. Initially the light was in one of our general surgery suites, but that OR had less need for the lights because it was primarily for laparoscopic cases. So we moved the Harmony LED light to Room 22 to be tested by the gynecological surgeons who need a very intense light to operate in deep cavities.

Moving the Harmony LED light was a snap because it can be easily plugged in and out of the base of the Harmony LA system, STERIS's modular, flexible system, which we had in both the general and gynecological operating rooms. The new lights do not need a different electrical hook-up so all we had to do was pull the Harmony LA lighthead off its arm and install the new lighthead in its place.

The Harmony LED light brought a number of helpful changes to the OR. To start with, the new light is less bulky to handle than the halogen light. While the Harmony LA head looks like a giant flashlight, with a reflecting cone around one light, the Harmony LED light head looks like a shield with many smaller LED bulbs in it.

Controls for the Harmony LED lights are very simple and closely follow those for the Harmony LA system, which we already were using. Virtually no training was needed. Intuitive controls mean that even surgeons not familiar with the Harmony LA need no more than a couple of minutes of education.

But what puts the LED light a quantu_m leap ahead of other light technologies is the quality of the light. The intensity of the light is 150,000 lux--for reference, the noonday sun on a clear day delivers around 100,000 lux. This light is so bright that we replaced the three lightheads we had in the room with only two LED lights. And, because light is coming from each of the LEDs at different angles, there are few shadows, even when it's shone deep into the body. The gynecological surgeons in Room 22 used the light to illuminate very deep into the pelvis, and by all accounts it performed wonderfully.