Surgical and Medical Displays: A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Healthcare Visualization Technology

Visualization technology in the healthcare field is vital to the industry. From massive, bulky CRT monitors in the early days of medical imaging to today’s super high definition tech, important advancements over the years have taken medical displays far from their humble beginnings. Today’s surgical displays are powerhouse tools the operating room staff uses to achieve the best results, helping them have a clear view of what’s going on.

The need for advanced surgical monitors will only continue to grow in order to keep up with modern surgical techniques and cameras. These tools allow operating room staff to do their jobs effectively, efficiently, and precisely, which can bring better results for patients.

In this post, we’ll go over all the basics of both specialized surgical displays and general medical ones. The key features, different types, and trends will all be discussed in detail, as well as the regulatory rules to keep in mind as you look to upgrade your medical displays. The goal is that by the end, you have a good jumping off point toward making a decision.

Let’s start by explaining the different aspects of a medical or surgical display.

Key Features of Surgical and Medical Displays

You’ll need to be well-versed in the relevant vocabulary to select the right surgical display for your organization. Read on for explainers of those different features so that you can confidently research and speak about them.

Resolution and Pixel Density

A medical or surgical display requires a higher resolution than a typical monitor because of how important it is to have an accurate picture. The resolution of a medical monitor is simply how many pixels it can display at once — for example, 1,500 by 2,000.

The pixel density is a more important measurement for the precise work of surgical displays. When pixels are close together, you’ll see a clearer, more accurate image. You’ll see pixel density measured most often in pixels per inch, which means how many pixels are packed in an inch-long line. Pixels per square inch is a different measurement.

A related term here is pixel pitch, which measures the distance between the centers of pixels. A surgical display should have a low pixel pitch and a high pixel density for the best picture quality.

Color Accuracy

The goal of any high-quality surgical display is to depict the surgical site as accurately as possible. The colors on the screen are no exception. Calibrating the display to make sure the colors are displaying appropriately is an important task.

One of the associated terms here is color gamut. That’s the range of colors that a medical display can produce. The human eye can typically discern a wider range of colors than an LCD screen, so looking for a medical display with a top-of-the-line color gamut will help the colors on the screen more closely resemble what you would see with your own eyes.

Another key element to the color accuracy is that the colors are consistent across different medical displays within the system. It’s important to be able to see the colors the same way on each monitor you view an image on. That way, everyone will be on the same page, and the chances for discrepancies are lower.

Brightness and Contrast

Finding the right brightness and contrast for a surgical display is a delicate balance. If it’s too bright, some details might get washed out. Too dim, and the surgical team might struggle to see. The ambient luminance in the room is something operating room teams must account for in order to calibrate their surgical displays to optimal brightness. If the room has too much ambient light hitting the screen, they will need to either change the lighting design in the room or change the settings on the surgical display.

Contrast is similarly concerning. The ratio between the lightest white and the darkest black that the medical display can produce at one time is its contrast. It’s another way to measure how well different parts of the image can be distinguished from each other, and it also needs to be balanced for optimal performance. It’s possible to have a contrast ratio higher than what the human eye can actually distinguish.

Response Time and Refresh Rate

These two considerations deal heavily with how smooth motion looks on a medical display. A higher refresh rate and lower response time are ideal. The refresh rate is how many times the image is, as the name suggests, refreshed each second. The response time is how long it takes each pixel to change from one color to the next.

Part of making sure movement looks smooth on a medical display is minimizing motion artifacts. This is where the pixels can’t change fast enough and display a slight, blurred “trail” behind the object in motion.

Not every medical display is going to be used for images in motion very often, but others are going to see heavy use for those sorts of purposes. Those are the kinds of medical displays that need to be optimized for response time and refresh rate. That way, you’ll get the highest quality display for your exact purposes.

Specific Considerations for a Surgical Display

Many of the concepts we’ve detailed so far are common across surgical displays and more general medical monitors, but there are also unique concerns you should keep in mind when it comes to this particular functionality. Surgeries these days are increasingly noninvasive, relying on visualization technology for endoscopic, arthroscopic, laparoscopic, robotic-guided surgery, and other types of modern techniques.

The first is a design that doesn’t need fans or vents. These features make a surgical display quieter and easier to clean, both important qualities of anything in the operating room. Fewer noises can help the operating room staff communicate more clearly and also help them focus on the vital tasks at hand. And when it comes to cleanliness, operating rooms have some of the strictest rules for good reason. Cutting down on the opportunities for pathogens to get on the staff’s hands or other surfaces that touch the patient is crucial. A surgical display without a vent can help in that regard.

Types of Surgical and Medical Displays

Now that we’ve outlined the different aspects of a medical display that are vital to determining whether it will be a good fit for your purposes or not, let’s look at some of the different types of medical monitors on the market. We couldn’t possibly list all the different possibilities, so these will be a brief overview.

Touchscreen and Interactive Displays

Once purely the stuff of science fiction, touchscreen medical displays are a reality in many of today’s settings. While they’re not typical for a surgical setting, there are definite medical applications. The first is for patient check in. This can be a much more efficient way to accomplish that task. Plus, screens can be cleaned with a quick and simple wipe. The same cannot be said for keyboards. So, the sanitization factor plays another role in the practicality of touchscreen medical displays.

These sorts of monitors can also help patients find their way around confusing hospitals. Having tools like these around means your staff will get to spend more time on their tasks and less time answering questions from first-time visitors about the layout of the building. It can also make the overall experience less stressful for patients, who already have enough to worry about.

Touchscreen and interactive displays have an abundance of other uses on top of these, so you’ll need to do further research for your organization if you think adding some could benefit you in a variety of areas.

Large-Scale Surgical Displays

Some operating rooms can benefit from having a large-scale surgical display that allows the entire operating room team to see the same thing. These are typically wall-mounted. That way, everyone can be on the same page and see the surgical site at once. While large-scale surgical displays are not appropriate for every setting, they can bring real benefits to certain types of procedures.

Regulatory and Compliance Aspects

As with everything in the medical field, there are strict rules and guidelines monitors must adhere to. Here are the broad strokes.

FDA requirements for medical displays

The FDA might not be the first regulatory body that comes to mind when you think of medical displays, but they do regulate medical monitors used for diagnostic radiology. We’re not focusing on that kind of medical display in this piece, but you can read our previous post about radiology monitors for a more in-depth exploration of that topic.

If you’re not in the United States, then you’ll need to look to your local government regulations for guidance on medical monitors. In the European Union, you’re looking for compliance with the Medical Device Regulation, for example.

DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) Standards

This protocol is widely respected and well-established. It contains guidelines for the quality and format of medical images as well as the data that should be associated with them. The medical community sees countless benefits from having these components of their work standardized. All medical monitors should be DICOM compliant. Most manufacturers are well aware of this and prioritize DICOM standards in creating their products, so it’s not hard to find.

Quality Assurance and Maintenance

Regulatory organizations are not the only ones with responsibility for ensuring that medical displays function properly. Installing them properly and performing routine maintenance also help them achieve their fullest potential as helpful tools for medical teams. For example, displays need to be calibrated at regular intervals to ensure their brightness is appropriate for the environment. Assuring that the monitor continues to meet important benchmarks over time is a critical part of maintaining compliance with those overarching guidelines.

Current Trends and Emerging Technologies for Surgical Displays

Medical visualization is no different from the rest of the rapidly advancing tech world. New features are constantly under development.

Popular features these days include flexibility and foldability as well as wireless capabilities. All of these qualities make medical displays more convenient. Maneuverability can be a huge benefit in operating rooms, and cutting down on the number of cords around makes the area safer by avoiding tripping hazards.

Over the coming years, the industry could explore augmented and virtual reality applications for medical displays. These could help with better visualizing the matter at hand in a 3D capacity. Artificial intelligence is another popular topic in today’s tech world, and there are definitely opportunities to explore how those capabilities could enhance the world of medical displays. AI already plays a role in minimally invasive surgeries, and making sure medical monitors can keep up with these advances is paramount.

Choosing the Right Surgical or Medical Display

With all of this background knowledge, you’re likely ready to move on to the criteria you should be looking for if you’re planning on upgrading the medical displays your organization is currently using.

Of course, you’re looking for the best stats in all of the measurements we listed before: Brightness, contrast, resolution, pixel density, color gamut and accuracy, etc. You also need to make sure the size of the screen is appropriate for the setting.

One consideration that might not immediately come to mind, though, is compatibility with your existing equipment. You might not have the budget or desire to upgrade all of the tech, so make sure the monitors are able to work with your existing setup.

And naturally, there’s always the budget considerations at the end of the day. You can’t break the bank on a single display. Making sure your upgrades fall within a reasonable price range is perhaps the most important aspect of selecting new monitors — if the financial backing can’t be secured, it doesn’t matter how much of an upgrade your preferred displays would be.

Take the next steps toward improving your surgical display.

Upgrading the equipment in the operating room is an important undertaking, and having the most recent information about the field of medical displays is going to make that job all that much easier. Start your search by looking through our inventory of medical and surgical displays. There are plenty of good options for you to browse through. As long as you keep on top of the advancements in the industry and the specific needs of your organization, you should not have a hard time finding the right monitors. Get started on your search today!