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By Seamus Swords
Staff Writer
12 May 2010
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A new trial in which patients are shown a DVD instead of being put under a general aesthetic has been extremely successful at a hospital in Scotland.
The idea may be extended to the rest of the country soon - will it be long before Lovefilm or Blockbuster implement a hospital-specific rental scheme for patients and out-of-work anesthetists?
Distracting the Patients
Many Doctors are keen to push these distraction techniques as it is widely believed that patients recover faster when they are numbed under a local rather than a general anaesthetic.
Unfortunately, the sights and sounds of the operating theatre can be so distressing for some patients that the surgery is too dangerous to carry out under the local anaesthetic.
Surgeons tried playing music but it was found that patients weren't distracted enough and, more often than not, had to be put under for the rest of the operation in any case. DVDs are apparently just distracting enough.
This idea was the brain child of anaesthetist Nick Pace who is currently pioneering the distraction technique at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland.
Dr Pace got the idea after friends of his said they distracted their children on long journeys by putting on a DVD when they strapped them in the car.
After getting the engineering department at the hospital to fashion a mount to hold the DVD player over the operating table, Dr Pace brought in some DVDs from home and offered the option to his patients.
If a patient becomes too uncomfortable or distracted during the operation then Dr Pace will put them under a general anaesthetic but, 18 months into the DVD trial, no patients have had to be put under yet.
Commenting to the BBC on its success Dr Pace said "It's a really good way, I think, of undertaking these kinds of operations," he said. "Some patients are quite disappointed because the operation is finished before the end of the film!"
Some Strange DVD choices
Unfortunately, the current DVD library is limited to Dr Pace's collection brought in from home.
Many patients opt for comedy classic Only Fools and Horses or documentary series Blue Planet which one patient described as "very relaxing, I like the fish and the oceans. I don't mind being awake at all."
Some of the stranger DVDs include The Guide to Successful Pole Fishing which Dr Pace claimed was the most popular DVD choice amongst his male patients.
At the moment around 50 percent of Dr Pace's patients opt for the DVD option - a long way off Scandinavia where around 95 percent of patients opt for the distraction techniques.
It remains to be seen if the new DVD distraction technique will be introduced into hospitals across the UK, but 18 months down the line there is little doubt that Dr Pace's DVD theory has been extremely successful.
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