Problem

When it is time for a patient to undergo a surgery, this one is transferred from a stretcher to a surgical table. This process encounters several challenges:

• It takes time.

• It is dangerous. The different manoeuvres put patients in danger, specially for the elderly and for those patients that are visually impaired.

• It is uncomfortable and stressful for healthcare professionals who have to lift weight while maintaining security.

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This problem is specially present in ophthalmology as the turnover is very high, with the operations taking less than 30 minutes. There are always many patients being operated per day and little time between surgeries.

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There was an opportunity in the ophthalmology department to design a surgical table that would also be used as a stretcher and even as a chair.

Solution

We designed and manufactured an affordable and versatile stretcher that can be used for all the steps of the surgical process, from the patient preparation to the surgery itself.

The stretcher has specific elements for ophthalmologic surgeries such as a head support that can be adapted to any head position.

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Encountered challenges

Stable & vibration-resistant: as all the ophthalmologic procedures use high resolution lasers and microscopes in order to see the tiny anatomical eye tissues, the wheels and all the stretcher surface must be stable and vibrations should be damped. Also, all the upholstery and metallic structure must be resistant to the high abrasive disinfectant products used to clean all the equipment in surgical areas.

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Cost: designing a solution that would be affordable for public hospitals (under 8K€)

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Impact

The ophthalmology department has 14 chairs that are in use and that have shown great results. Other hospitals have asked to have the same design we created.