Anthropometric Evaluation and Operation Room Design Analysis for Laparoscopic Surgeries in Cuenca, Ecuador

Abstract

The surgical instruments as well as the medical equipment and laparoscopic tower commonly used in Latin America - especially in Ecuador – had been manufactured in the USA or Germany. Hence, for the design stage, the manufacturing companies use anthropometric variables related to the local population. Consequently, the values and estimations of these variables are not in concordance with the Latin America reality. According to some studies, approximately 73% of surgeons report physical discomfort during the laparoscopic surgeries. Generally, the discomfort is present in the neck, low back, shoulders, and thumbs. Several factors such as the impossibility of adjusting the operating table height, the wrong video monitor position, and the inappropriate design of the surgical instruments can trigger this situation. In laparoscopic surgeries, the origin of surgeons’ health problems mainly relates to the following situations: the wrong disposition of the elements of the operation room, the lack of instruments ergonomically designed, and the limited space in operation room. To the best of our knowledge, in Ecuador, there are no published studies about the anthropometry and the surgeon’s working space/workstation. For the reasons above exposed, in this paper, we present research of anthropometric evaluation carried out in Cuenca - Ecuador with seven surgeons during the laparoscopic surgeries.