New Medical Equipment vs. Used Medical Equipment

While brand new equipment can look good and elevate the status of your surgery or healthcare center, it could be at the expense of a patient's hospital bill, which makes quality used medical equipment a better alternative. A new study suggests that parents would opt for open surgery for simple procedures, such as an appendectomy, for their children to reduce costs.

As reported by Elisabeth Rosenthal in her article for The New York Times, a recent study conducted by the Annals of Surgery discovered that when parents were asked to decide which form of surgery they would prefer for their children to undergo, provided that the outcomes were the same, they often chose the cheaper option.

Though American surgeons almost always favor the minimally invasive procedure, the results of the two types of procedures are similar in children, studies show. "Cost is really the only difference-- there's no difference in outcome," Dr. Scaife noted in a telephone interview.

When told that and given the price quotes, nearly two-thirds of the parents selected the cheaper open procedure. Parents given price information were 1.8 times as likely to choose the cheaper option than others. 31 percent of parents given the information said it had been a primary influence in their decision.

On the other hand, Dr. Eric Scaife, from the University of Utah Health Sciences, also said that minimally invasive procedures, most of the time conducted with an endoscope, are the best for children:

The minimally invasive approach leaves a somewhat smaller scar and is better for overweight children, Dr. Scaife said. But in lean children there is no difference in infection rates, length of stay in the hospital or the length of time before the child returns to normal activities.

Since the first endoscopic surgery in the late 1980s, people have become more curious about minimally invasive procedures and their advantages, including a shorter healing time and fewer side effects. While American surgeons have started to embrace and prefer endoscopic surgeries rather than the traditional open surgeries, the recent study from the Annals of Surgery suggests that parents would rather risk a longer recovery period just so they could save money.

Surgery centers that wish to encourage patients to opt for minimally invasive procedures can invest in effective yet affordable refurbished medical equipment like those offered by UsedStryker. By doing so, clients or patients (both potential and actual) won't have to shoulder the expensive price tag that came with the endoscope or any other equipment that were used for their or their child's treatment.

Technology has been yielding smaller innovative products, with significantly bigger potentials.

As reported by Dennis Domrzalski in Albuquerque Business First, medical practitioners recently gathered at Lovelace Women's Hospital in Albuquerque, NM for an all-day seminar on micro-laparoscopy. By comparison, traditional incisions range from 5.6 to 13.2 mm.

Surgeon Dr. Eldie Cruz told reporters that, with the smaller incisions, patients treated for diseases like gallstones, endometriosis, and cervical cancer can recover more quickly and experience less pain. Dr. Cruz said that the incisions in micro-laparoscopy are so small, they can't be considered.

Size Does Matter

To perform a micro-laparoscopy, medical tools like the laparoscope had to be shrunk to less than 3 mm in diameter. Traditional laparoscopes have diameters ranging from 4 mm to 30 mm, but the most commonly used ones are sized at 5 mm to 10 mm. These laparoscopes are smaller than the smallest syringe needle in use.

Micro-laparoscopy wouldn't have been feasible years ago due to the absence of the necessary technology. One of the needed innovations is fiber optics, which allow micro-laparoscopes to produce images as clear as those a 10-mm laparoscope can produce. In addition, the use of fiber optics has expanded the functions of laparoscopy to more than just diagnostic surgery.

The process of laparoscopy also makes use of computerized navigational aids equipment, which a medical practice can get from a reputable medical device sales company. These equipment and devices serve as a clear eye inside the body, to make a difference even in the most life-threatening cases.

Used but Superior

The most technologically advanced products do not have to be expensive, such that they are out of an average medical facility's reach. Solutions, such as refurbished used medical equipment from dealers like Used Stryker, make these products available to medical practitioners at lower costs. Some of the equipment may not even have been used yet, ending up for sale as a result of the end of a lease, or a default in payments.

Used surgical equipment sales thus benefit not only the seller, but also the medical facilities that get quality products at more affordable costs. Most importantly, they benefit patients who are given access to technologically advanced treatments that result in less pain and trauma, and provide a better medical experience.

To perform a micro-laparoscopy, medical tools like the laparoscope had to be shrunk to less than 3 mm in diameter. Traditional laparoscopes have diameters ranging from 4 mm to 30 mm, but the most commonly used ones are sized at 5 mm to 10 mm. The most technologically advanced products do not have to be expensive, such that they are out of an average medical facility's reach. Solutions, such as refurbished used medical equipment from dealers like Used Stryker, make these products available to medical practitioners at lower costs.