Choosing Surgical Lighting: Simple Steps to Make the Best Choice

Choosing the right surgical lighting for your institution needs a blend of preparation, expert advice and ‘big picture’ planning to make the ideal choice.

This way, you’ll see the most suitable unit installed on budget, within timescale and with the assurance that the factors like downtime-preventing maintenance and supply of consumables have been properly examined.

Thankfully, we specialise in making this process as simple and cost-effective as possible (after all, we’ve been doing just that for almost 20 years!).

Read on for ‘choosing surgical lighting 101’ advice from our specialists to help understand the entire surgical lighting purchase from initial preparation to product support post-install…

Choosing Surgical Lighting: Types of Surgical Lighting

When assessing the right surgical lighting option for your facility it’s essential to ensure the unit won’t just function but will perform the right function in the right way for your specific setting.

There are three types of surgical lighting equipment to be aware of and they each tend to be most suitable for specific types of need…

• Procedure lighting: Ideal for trauma, minor surgery or procedural settings.
• Surgery lighting: Generally for full-scale surgery settings thanks to advanced control and mounting features like wall control, HD in-head camera, a monitor arm and even selectable color control.
• Task lighting: Purpose-designed to help effective, efficient completion of day-to-day tasks including monitoring in and around the patient’s bed, task lighting also helps the patient to remain comfortable in their surroundings.

Knowing the operational ask of your facility forms a key part of the preparation to make the right purchase. To find out about important surgical lighting features see below.

Choosing Surgical Lighting: Surgical Lighting Features

Making sure the lighting equipment will work in harmony with your setting and other equipment is a recommended next step in the surgical lighting upgrade process. For example, mounting options are an important part of the wider surgery set-up the lighting will sit within

Some lighting equipment and features to watch out for include…

• Procedure lighting: A light with bright, color-corrected light and shadow control (our recommendation: the MI-1000 LED Procedure Light or the Triango 100 for additional mounting, light focusing and endo options) will give colleagues a user-friendly source of high-output white light they can depend on.
• Surgery lighting: These high-spec units offer exceptional control, combability and mounting features to deliver superb performance. For example, a System Two LED Surgery Light offers 130,000 lux white light output with excellent vizualisation, the Nuvo Vu-160 allows independent control of LEDs for custom pattern sizes while the Nuvo Vu-E adds color temperature control.
• Task lighting: Designed to be used universally for exams and procedures in the clinical sector, a high-performance task light – such as the Visiano 10-1 – should offer glare-free, shadow-free and heat-free illumination for clinical work.

Reminder: important differences in equipment specification can be used to select the exact solution needed for your facility. Read on to find out how we can help.

Choosing Surgical Lighting: Next Steps (and How We Can Help)

Our experts strongly recommend a ‘big picture’ view of a surgical light purchase taking in factors including: initial cost, cost and lifespan of lamps and maintenance as necessary.

That’s why specialist advice with choosing, running and maintaining a lighting unit is highly recommended.

In fact, when we spoke to a veterinary buyer of a surgical lighting system she explained that finding an expert vendor plus having access to knowledgeable support before, during and post-purchase were all essential elements in making the purchase.

After all, decisions made now affect your downtime in the event of support being needed in the future. Plus, calculating things like the risks caused by obsolete lamps in existing equipment vs the cost of new equipment can be complex. Thankfully, they don’t have to be attempted without expert help

To access proven surgical lighting know-how to help identify, assess and cost your upgrade simply contact the ValleyMed team. We’ll be glad to help.

Choosing Surgical Lighting: Why ValleyMed?

What makes ValleyMed different? We believe in ‘professionals supplying professionals’, meaning the right advice and support before, during and after a product is delivered. In fact, we’ve been the trusted name for institution, laboratory and clinic lighting across Canada since 1993.

ValleyMed provides and advises Canadian hospitals on surgical lighting (including full turnkey installation), procedure microscopes, surgical headlights, fibre optic light guides, diagnostic disposables, and specialty replacement lamps for medical, scientific and audiovisual applications.

Our promise hasn’t changed across decades In business: prompt, trustworthy and reliable service backed with deep product knowledge before, during and after a product is delivered.

And because patient care and surgical procedures are constantly changing, ValleyMed strives for continuous innovation in its product range and will always be proud to help select the best possible solutions for individual needs.

Find out more about ValleyMed here or contact us for expert assistance.

See Also: Help to Make the Most of Your Budget, A Guide to Patient Room Lighting for Long Term Care