This episode of the podcast is sponsored by PearsonRavitz Insurance. You can learn about them and schedule a consultation on my website at: https://pearsonravitz.com/surgicalergonomics/

Disclosure:

PearsonRavitz is a paid sponsor and the affiliate link above supports the podcast at no cost to you.

Episode details:

Mr. Gil Spitz was originally a classical musician and shifted his focus to ergonomics and preventative exercise to help musicians with repetitive motion injuries. He furthered his expertise with an MS in Exercise Physiology, researching optimized training for first responders. In 2019, he joined the Medical ICU team at Baylor/St. Luke's Medical Center, developing and enacting exercise plans for medically compromised patients. Since 2021, he has been with the Liver Transplant Program, implementing a hospital-wide method for assessing transplant patients' physical suitability, providing post-transplant follow-up, and developing a virtual pre-habilitation program to improve outcomes.

During this time he has also worked with the surgical staff helping them prevent musculoskeletal and repetitive motion injuries. Gil has worked with providers both on a 1-on-1 basis, addressing specific needs and issues, as well as presenting the topic of OR ergonomics, inter- & intra-op preventative exercises to incoming resident cohorts during an annual bootcamp at Baylor College of Medicine.

In this episode Mr. Spitz:

- Describes his journey from being a musician playing classical guitar to then building a career as an exercise physiologist

- Explains why he likens surgeons to elite athletes, except that little attention is paid to surgeons' recovery period

- Emphasizes that surgeons need to pay attention to their sleep hygiene, address inflammation, evaluation by a functional movement specialist (or a PT/OT) to assess muscle imbalances and passive to active stretching

- Advises surgeons to prioritize their physical health and protect their investment (time, money and effort spent on training and working on their craft)

- Discusses the differences between male and female athletes with respect to strength, mobility and prolonged static tasks and how athlete training programs are actually designed around their menstrual cycles

- Shares emerging research in the area of exercise physiology with respect to exercising with blood flow restriction

- Emphasizes certain types of maneuvres that pregnant surgeons need to focus on (chin tucks, scapular retraction etc. ) to maintain a more balanced posture

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This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Q-optics. You can learn about them, the special rates they are offering for podcast listerners and schedule a demo via : https://q-optics.com/pages/surgicalergonomics-drlal

Disclosure:

Q-optics is a paid sponsor and the affiliate link above supports the podcast at no cost to you. It also provides you with a discount and a giveaway to listeners of the podcast, so we hope that it is a win-win!

Dr. Donny W. Suh a Professor and Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology and the Eye Mobile Program at the University of California, Irvine. He works at UCI Gavin Herbert Eye Institute and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC). He also volunteers with ORBIS Global Health Programs, providing medical care and training ophthalmologists in underserved regions across South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. In addition, he is the Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Ophthalmology Section Membership Committee , an inductee of the American Ophthalmological Society and was awarded “Inventor of the Year” in 2019 by the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

In this episode Dr. Suh:

- Shares that he became interested in ergonomics about 10-15 years into his practice because he started to have MSK symptoms and noticed many colleagyes with the same due to awkward posture while operating

- Explains that loupes are essentially telescopes and that there are 2 main types, Galilean and Keplerian. The former have a convex and concave lens and the latter contain 2 or more convex lenses. Keplerian loupes are able to provide higher magnifications but are heavy due to the higher number of lenses.

- Elaborates on why the use of loupes is an independent risk factor for the development of work-related MSK symptoms among surgeons and dentists.

- Clarifies that here has't been a lot of change in loupe design until very recently, with the major change being prism deflection. Other changes include lighter titanium frames, plastic lenses and strap design.

- Discusses the difference between Galilean and Prismatic loupes. The former are limited by the extent of how deep a declination angle one can achieve. Deflection loupes are technically a subtype of Prismatic loupes but for all practical purposes, they can be considered similar.

- Explains why Prismatic/Deflection loupes need customization (to our face and working distance) or the image will be blurred. Therefore, it is important to simulate your surgical experience when getting fitted for them.

- Advises individuals that there are some challenges associated with using Prismatic/ Deflection loupes, such as image displacement and image distortion, and it is important to give time to get used to working with them

You can learn about ergonomic loupes straps developed by Dr. Suh here: https://suhhermsen.com/ergonmic-loupe-strap

You can reach Dr. Suh on Linked In and Instagram

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Episode details:

Dr. Jennifer Quon is a pediatric neurosurgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She is also the Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Smartstep Surgical LLC. Dr. Quon completed medical school at Yale School of Medicine and neurosurgical training at Stanford Hospital. She did her pediatric neurosurgery fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children prior to starting as faculty. Dr. Quon has broad clinical interests in pediatric neurosurgery, with expertise in skull base brain tumors, vascular disorders and fetal surgery. Her research program focuses machine learning applications in pediatric neurosurgery and neuroimaging, and surgical innovation.

In this episode Dr. Quon:

- Shares the challenges she faced using standing stools/steps in the operating room which in turn, inspired her ergonomics and innovation journey

- Discusses how she started her innovation journey by thinking about what features she would want an ideal step stool to have

- Explains that Surgistep is a motorized surgical stool/step which can adjust height in 1mm increments using a scissor-lift mechanism and allows surgeons the ability to make adjustments without asking other team members to stack steps https://www.smartstepsurgical.com/collections/surgistep

- Elaborates on the various steps during her innovation journey i.e. background research, finding a partner familiar with devices, meeting with engineers, raising funding, getting additional partners, making a prototype and learning legal and regulatory requirements

- Shares some of the frustrations during her innovator journey including the timelines being longer than anticipated and getting conflicting feedback to make engineering modifications

- Describes the basics of getting funding for aspiring surgeon-innovators

- Highlights that she is working on other safety products for the OR

You can reach Dr. Quon directly via email: jennifer.quon@sickkids.ca

Smart Step Surgical LLC is offering a 20% discount for listeners of the podcast which you can access here: https://www.smartstepsurgical.com/blogs/news/surgical-ergonomic-podcast-promotional-discount

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