At 4 a.m. during a VATS lobectomy, I said “clamp,” and the voice-activated lights heard “calm” and dimmed to spa mode while I was chasing a 2 mm bleeder with a 5 mm clip applier — innovation is great until it zen-ifies your thorax. Anyone else have smart OR tech turn a straightforward mitral or lung case into a comedy sketch while you’re urgently trying to keep the patient safe?
@OP Had our “suture” command start the room playlist mid-AVR; we now program a safe word (“manual”) to suspend voice controls and keep a fixed-brightness preset on the foot pedal — tiny hassle for the circulator, but it beats serenading a bleeder.
Had our insufflator drop lights when it misheard seal, so we rerouted voice control to push-to-talk on the scrub’s foot pedal with a wake phrase; it only listens when keyed, and clamp stopped becoming calm, @OP. Costs a half-second, but it’s been a clean fix when suction and masks garble commands.
But 4 a.m. VATS here where “clamp” became “calm” and we got spa lighting; we fixed it by purging light-command homophones and only allowing numbers — “lights 80,” “lights 100” — with a hard lock after incision. Small caveat: everyone had to stop chatting with the room, but when a 2 mm bleeder shows up the brightness won’t budge; @natalie_p89 push‑to‑talk is solid; the numeric map made ours boring and predictable.