Purpose
Laparoscopic surgeons suffer because of discomfited body posture while performing surgery and experience discomfort owing to lack of customized surgical instruments. Accordingly, this paper aims to recommend an individual customization strategy by developing an ergonomically designed laparoscopic forceps handle and thereby increase the comfort of surgeons.
Design/methodology/approach
Hand anthropometric parameters of 282 south Indian male subjects are used to customize the handle. uPrint and Objet260 Connex, which works based on fused deposition modeling and PolyJet, respectively, are used to fabricate the prototype of the handle. Design modifications include a pistol-type grip, the increased contact area between the hand and handle, and neutral wrist posture.
Findings
Ergonomic evaluation parameters such as grip, functionality, comfort and wrist posture using subjective ratings from laparoscopic surgeons were recorded and obtained average values of 4.1, 3.6, 4.1 and 4.1, respectively, based on a five-point ordinal scale. Additionally, stress analysis also confirms the safety of the handle based on von Mises stress criteria.
Research limitations/implications
Anthropometric data are limited to 282 subjects and subjective evaluation is conducted using a prototype, not the end-use product.
Originality/value
Evaluation using subjective rating confirms the ascendancy of a modified handle over the existing handle in terms of assessed parameters. The proposed individual customization strategy can be applied for other industrial hand tools to enhance comfort.
Surgical skill of the surgeon can be improved by surgical simulation. Especially in ophthalmology, it is impossible to use real human/non-human primate eyes for ophthalmology surgery practice. However, surgical practice is most important for ophthalmologist. The retina laser surgery is one of the ophthalmology surgeries and it requires more surgical practice for surgeons to use the laser beam precisely to coagulate and fuse small areas of tissue. Dealing with the prospect of vision reduction or vision loss presents a peculiar problem and that can be highly stressful and frustrating for both doctors and patients. In this regard, training for indirect ophthalmoscopy and retinal photocoagulation is undergone using model eyes instead of real eyes. Properties and functioning of an existing model eye are huge and they differ from real human eye such as casings are completely rigid and focusing of retinal fundus is not completely covered. Therefore, this research concentrates to develop a model eye that assimilates close to the human eye by focussing on the maximum viewing area that is not done at the moment. Finally, the design and development of re-engineered model eye for retina laser is fabricated by additive manufacturing. Compared to existing plastic model eye, viewing area and viewing angle of the re-engineered model eye is increased by 16.66% and 6.14%, respectively. Due to design modifications and elimination of the insert, it can be reduced by 18.99% and 13.95% of height and weight of the top casing respectively. Developed re-engineered model eye will improve the surgical and diagnostic skill of the surgeon and increase their confidence and proficiency. It also augments the effective use of essential ophthalmic instruments. Additionally, it can reduce the surgical error and meet the existing demand of actual eyes for surgical practices.
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