Evaluation of Laparoscopic Tools for Usability and Comfort

Abstract

Many problems have been associated with current laparoscopic surgical tools, and work is being done to improve the design of many the tools and devices, but little improvement has resulted. The IDEA Lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has designed a comfortable and intuitive tool with added function as a result of questionnaire responses from student and expert surgeons. Surgeons were asked to respond to a questionnaire asking about pain and discomfort experienced from use of conventional laparoscopic grasper tools. Analysis of the results shows that more than 25% of all respondents experience problems during or after surgery in the following areas: neck pain and stiffness, shoulder/arm pain and stiffness, hand/wrist pain and stiffness, back pain and stiffness, mental fatigue, awkward manipulation of instruments, and performing precise movements. Eleven out of eighteen surgeons reported experiencing painful areas of the hand during or after laparoscopic surgery, including but not limited to, numbness of the thumb and soreness of the fingers. These results make it clear that the redesigns of the new laparoscopic grasper tool were needed. Further testing will be conducted to compare the new design to conventional tools and determine if all of the needs of surgeons have been met.

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