Page 53 - World Journal of Laparoscopic Surgery

Role of OT Table Height on the Task Performance of Minimal Access Surgery

different height of surgeon. The girth of the patient was kept D. Uncomfort: When there was complementary increased
constant during the study as the task was performed on the abduction of shoulder joint with increased flexion of wrist joint
endo-trainer. to perform the task.

Task RESULTS

The subject had to perform the task of tying the intracorporeal The results of the level of comfort of OR table during task
knot. The operating table height was adjusted to six different performance with respect of the height of the surgeon is shown
height for a particular surgeon. The monitor was placed in front in Table 2. The short stature subjects (147 to 151 cm) were
of the surgeon at a height of 170 cm from floor. comfortable at 65 cm table height while the tall subjects (178 to
182 cm) experienced comfort at 90 cm OR table height.
Subjects The maximum subjects were in the height group 165 to
170 cm which is the average height of the Indian masses, were
Consisted of surgeon and laparoscopic trainees. The total comfortable during their task performance at 80 cm OR table
numbers of subjects were twenty-five out of which five were height.
females and the rest twenty were. They worked mostly with There was a parallel steady rise in trend (Graph 1). As the
right hand.
height of the surgeon increased there was proportionate increase
in the vertical height of the OR table.
Operation Table Height (Fig. 3)
Six different heights of the operating table was adjusted varying
from 65 to 90 cm. TABLE 2: Subjects height versus table height (comfort level)
Subject (surgeon height cm) Comfort of the level of OR
Duration of Each Observation
Table height (cm)
The duration of each observation was for five minutes for each
height of operating room table. For six different heights of the 147 65
table the total observation duration was of 30 minutes for the 150 65
task performance with respect to the position of shoulder, elbow 151 65
and wrist movements. 155 70
156 70
Video Analysis 160 75
160 75
The camera was used to record the position of the shoulder,
hand arm and wrist joint and videos snaps were taken during 161 75
the task performance at different operating table height. 163 75
164 75
Questionnaire 165 80
165 80
The subjects were asked for the particular level of discomfort of
the operating table height during their task performance. 166 80
167 80
Level of comfort (from best to worst) was graded: 167 80
168 80
A. Comfortable: When the subject’s upper extremities were in 168 80
neutral zone posture. 170 80
171 85
B. Less comfort: When there was minimum deviation from the 172 85
above posture (Abduction of shoulder joint and flexion of wrist 173 85
joint). 174 85

178 90
C. Discomfort: When there was increasing abduction of 180 90
shoulder joints with increasing flexion of wrist joint to perform
the task. 182 90

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