Stabilizing Upper Extremities During Surgical Procedures

The process of stabilizing patients during surgical procedures is crucial. Being able to properly stabilize and position your patient will directly correlate to the success of that operation. To ensure your patient’s upper body and arms are positioned correctly, surgical arm boards are a necessary addition to your exam table.

By properly positioning a patient’s arm on one of our surgical arm boards, you are reducing the risk of injury. Positioning injuries can take place during surgeries for many reasons. These injuries can include hypotension, hypoxia, direct nerve injury from compression, etc. When positioning patients it’s also important to be aware of patients with existing injuries, since they are higher risk. These patients would include those with peripheral nerve injury, peripheral vascular disease, obesity or diabetes.

Patients experience a higher level of comfort with upper extremity support. With surgical arm boards, the physician can easily adjust the patient’s arm to facilitate access and manipulation during procedures. This keeps the patient safe and allows better access for the physician and medical staff.

The ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) recommend the following for positioning upper extremities:

• In the supine position, arm should be limited to 90०.
• Patients with arm positioned using a surgical arm board should be positioned in way to reduce pressure on the ulnar nerve of the humerus.

Surgical arm boards are excellent additions to your exam table in order to prevent patient injury and increase comfort level. If you have any questions, please comment in the box below!