[Histonet] Pathology to OR Communication System

[Perkocha, Luke]

Hello All,

We have a very old speakerphone system that we use to call from the pathologist's office in to our operating rooms to discuss frozen section diagnoses with the surgeons. Both sides are yelling and straining to hear and we're concerned about the risk for miscommunication. We can't go into the OR directly, since Pathology and the OR are too far apart physically.

We're looking for some sort of telephone-based communications system, perhaps with a speaker and microphone that can be mounted near the surgeon, so that when we call into the OR with the frozen section diagnosis, it can be switched to speaker and the call can be continued with direct and audible communication between the pathologist on the phone in his/her office and the surgical team at the head of the operating table.

Does anyone out there have a system like this?

Do you know of a commercial vendor who makes something that would work?

We tried an expensive "Polycom" system meant for conference calls, but its 360 degree microphones picked up too much background noise in the OR.

It seems like it should be a simple Radio Shack project, but we're all techno-challenged.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Luke Perkocha
Luke.perkocha <@t> ucsf.edu<mailto:Luke.perkocha <@t> ucsf.edu>