The Merivaara Q-Flow surgical light improves the working environment in operating rooms, and also offers a new way to reduce the risk of infections.

The new Merivaara Q-Flow is a major step forward from traditional operating room lights. Designed and manufactured in Finland, Q-Flow was developed to fulfil the needs of the modern surgical team. It offers improvements on many standard features in the industry as well as radical innovations.

(Image: Merivaara)

“I believe this is one of the best operating theatre lights in the world,” says CEO Markku Aherto. “We are very excited about this excellent product.”

The light achieves superb colour rendering, particularly in red and skin shades, which makes the product perfect for a variety of surgical procedures such as internal or plastic surgery. The Q-Flow gives a very deep column of light and dynamic obstacle compensation, so if the surgeon bends over his or her patient, sensors brighten other LEDs to reduce shadows.

Moreover, the light has sterile and intuitive controls. The Q-Flow displays simple user instructions on the operating table so the surgeon does not have to look up.

“We had surgeons, anaesthesiologists and nurses give us their input as we developed the Q-Flow,” Aherto continues. “They are very enthusiastic about the final result.”

(Image: Merivaara)

One of the most ground-breaking features is the way it improves hygienic conditions. Standard operating room lights create turbulence intensity, acting like an aircraft wing to pull particulates in the air right over the patient. Merivaara’s designers shaped the Q-Flow as a series of concentric circles with open spaces in between. This improves laminar air flow so sterile conditions are maintained and the risk of infection is reduced. The standard turbulence intensity should be below 37.5% but the Q-Flow boasts 15.9% according to the DIN 1946-4:2008 standard.

The Q-Flow surgical light has already won two prestigious design awards: the Red Dot Award for Product Design in 2017 and the Fennia Prize Grand Prix 2017 for its outstanding design.

The Q-Flow is a part of the Merivaara Fluent concept, which enhances the usability of operating rooms. This includes an intuitive user interface which works across a variety of devices, such as Q-Flow, operating tables and an integrated management system. Often a single operating room may have equipment with different user interfaces. With Merivaara Fluent, each device can have the same user interface, allowing the medical staff to concentrate on the patient instead of learning how to use the devices.

“All the Q-Flow’s design and technology is Finnish,” concludes Aherto. “Finnish healthtech has a very good reputation around the globe. I am proud that we can offer something to the world which contributes to Finland’s great reputation.”