Surgilift

[sebastian]

Anyone with ANY experience using surgilift please reply.

What do you think of them, what and how do you use them and are there any special considerations?

Thanks!!

[adornurse]

We use surgilifts at my hospital and I really like them. Basically, you have a lifter sheet which is on the OR bed, under the sheet, before the patient transfer to the OR bed. You do need to be sure the lifter straps are tucked out of the way if you are going to use a side rail mounted retractor such as a Bookwalter. At the end of the case you bring the lifter into the OR, unhinge the lifter over the patient and thread the straps through. Then you crank up the lift/lower the OR bed and off you go. They have a seatbelt attached and an IV pole and you can mount an O2 tank on them. They are kind of like a little hammock. When you get to recovery or the patients room, you simple line up the surgilift over the bed, lower the surgilift with the crank, unstrap the lifter sheet and fold the frame over the patient and wheel the surgilift away.

The ones we had when I first started were great and easy to use, but within the last year they have been replaced with a newer model which we have ran into a few issues with. The new ones are wider and have a higher weight limit which is a plus. The strap holders are now underneath the edge of the frame - it is suppose to be safe for the patient but they are a bit harder to thread the straps through and not very ergonomic. They also have a fifth wheel in the middle of one of the sides that if locked and you are not aware makes the lift tip over (when the patient is not on it of course!) and that has caused a few minor accidents. They tried taking it off, but I have seen someone get a nasty skinned heel in the last week from the area where it was removed.

However, I still would say that they are a great way to move patients quickly and safely and a real back saver! For bariatric patients and morbidly obese patients, we use a hoover mat that is even better for reducing back strain.

If you want more information on the surgilift, please let me know, I'd be happy to share additional info and my experiences with the surgilift.

[jadegypsy]

I love the surgilift, but be aware of one problem - eventually the sheets wear our and must be replaced. Our facility found a less expensive replacement sheet and they were a disaster. The straps slipped (with patient on the lift) and we nearly lost a patient several times. So if you are going to the surgilift- be committed to using orig. equipment replacements.

Only other issue we had was that for any patient the surgion wanted to tilt in trendelenburg or reverse, the patient tended to slip down (or up) on the or table. Was a particular issue for
our gyn laparoscopic procedures. My idea was to use those waffle weave non slip pads (like for rugs or mattresses) but left that facilty before it was implemented, so I don't know if it worked or not.

I have to say that the lifts certainly made patient tranfer easy on the back. Only time in my 25 years in the OR I didn't go home with a backache every day.