Lighting for Operating Rooms and Ancillary Operating Rooms

Operations pose the highest mental and physical challenges for a surgical team. Safety and functionality has top priority here. In being able to perform these difficult visual tasks, which often involve life and death, safely , optimal lighting is essential. Performing an operation requires highest level of concentration, skill and precision in every hand movement. The lighting must meet the highest standards to enable surgical team to work trouble-free.

In operating rooms, not only the the operating table must be properly illuminated, the ambient lighting must also be given attention. For an optimal lighting solution the room will be divided into three different divided into zones. The brightest area in the room is the operation field. Here is required 40,000 to 160,000 lux lighting normatively. However, not only the operating table, but also the rest of the room must be very brightly lit, to exclude any adaptation disorders of eyes and their fatigue by too large differences in luminance. In the immediate vicinity of the operating table should therefore be lighted under 2,000 lux if possible while 1,000 lux for the rest of the room is sufficient.

Operation Room Zones Per Lighting Levels

Visual Tasks At The Highest Level

Vision that is as free of disturbance as possible is indispensable for utmost mental and physical performance, exerted during an operation. The general lighting in the operating area must provide a particularly even lighting which prevent shadows and allows for both a glare-freeness as far as possible and fatigue-free operation. Of utmost importance is the color rendering throughout room, but especially in the surgical field: A color rendering index of Ra 90 or higher is needed here for the surgeon to distinguish between different types of tissue. For a uniformly good quality of light in all areas should be light color and color rendering properties of general lighting and surgical lights correspond to each other most possibly. The avoidance of glares, shadows and reflections in the immediate operating area and surroundings are top priority. Thanks to the flexible adjustability of the surgical lamps through articulated arms and a fully cardanic suspension of the light head, the light can be optimally adjusted on the surgical field. 

Lighting in Operation Rooms is Critical for Success of Operations

Pleasant Atmosphere In Waiting Area, Preparation and Recovery Room

In order to support the patient in the difficult phases before and after the operation as best as possible, a lighting system with variably adjustable or permanently programmable color gradients is very well suited. The dynamic change in light color and intensity creates a room atmosphere that has a calming effect on the patient.

Even in operating rooms, colored lighting is often used today – in addition to functional lighting – e.g. to offer relaxation and distraction to the patient who has been operated under local anesthesia. By control of individual light colors, an unlimited number of lighting situations can be created. Colors that are too intense – including the color of walls, ceilings or furnishings – should be avoided here so as not to impair color rendering in the surgical area. Warm white light is used in recovery rooms immediately after the operation. If the patient wakes up, biologically effective light can support the waking phase.

The lighting in recovery rooms has two tasks to fulfill: On one hand, general lighting must be provided, on the other hand, greatly reduced lighting is required for the patient's recovery phase, which does not dazzle the patient who is in the recovery process. Indirect lighting of the recovery areas is the best solution. Ancillary lighting should make it possible to increase the illuminance by the bed if necessary.The control of the general lighting, the lighting of the surgical field and, if necessary, ancillary emotional lighting can be controlled via lighting control systems having interactive displays or, for example, the touch panels of telemedicine as well.

Minimally Invasive Surgery 

In minimally invasive surgery, the operative processes are observed either indirectly via monitors or using an eyepiece via a direct visual channel. For this type of operations, a separately switchable and dimmable room lighting of green light and of low illlumination intensity have become prevalent. Under green light, the reflections on the monitors are the least disturbing. Besides the room lighting, the surgical light can also be switched to an endoscopy mode in green light because of this. For the start and end of operations, however, the same standard values for lighting are required as for classic operations. The lighting for minimally invasive surgery is conceived therefore always as supplementary lighting.

Lighting Criteria In Clean Rooms

Nowhere in the hospital is protection against germs and contamination as important as in operating rooms. Spread of pathogens is a constant threat to weakened patients. Luminaires in these areas have to meet higher safety and hygiene standards as well. Luminaires with protection class IP54 or IP65 are recommended for easy and hygienic cleaning. Luminaires with protection class IP65 are dustproof and practically also bacteria-proof, because only particles with a particle size of less than one μm can still penetrate luminaires. Higher degrees of protection are necessary above all when the walls and ceilings have to be sprayed for cleaning and disinfection for hygienic reasons.

A more difficult problem of hygiene in operating theaters is the isolation of the room from suspended ceilings. With installations in suspended ceilings, for example with built-in luminaires, use of installation frames has proven itself. On the one hand, they guarantee the hygienic mounting of luminaire and, on the other hand, the defined connection to the adjacent ceiling material. In addition, in most hospitals, an overpressure is generated in clean rooms relative to adjacent rooms and the suspended ceilings. Air can only flow from the clean room into the suspended ceiling and not vice versa.

Efficient Lighting Systems Offer A High Energy-saving Potential

Especially in operating theaters, where high illuminance levels are used, a lot of energy can be saved with the help of modern LED and fluorescent lamps. The investment pays for itself relatively quickly, not least because of the low maintenance costs.