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Bug lights guarding the OR’s: If you get HEALTHY
the angle just right, they speak to you. OBSERVATIONS
HERE’S
W H AT ’S
BUGGIN’
ME
By Robert G. Johnson, M.D.
I’m back, and I’m re-inspired. I was in a slump—fighting a major loading dock by the dumpster. I remember once (the only time in
case of writer’s block. Just when I thought I’d run out of lampoon- thirty years I might add) when a fly was dive bombing me in the op-
able stuff—they appear—and right under my nose. What, you ask, erating room, the anesthesiologist chased it down with a can of ben-
could work such a reanimation of the soul? zoin spray. Didn’t kill it—just gummed up its landing gear. Cheap,
effective, humane.
Bug lights! Yes, you heard me right—bug zappers. In my hospital.
In the corridors outside the operating suites. Three perfectly parallel, On a serious note (if there is one), the bigger question is: Why do
purplish, plush neon lights. Reminds me of summer camp fifty years we even need bug lamps in the hospital? Have there been sightings?
ago. Such memories. I honestly could never decide what I enjoyed Is it a JCAHO, OSHA or OBAMAcare requirement? Three super-
more: the zapping, electrical sizzle, or the aroma of freshly roasted visors and a couple of assistant administrator’s later I spoke to an
horse fly. honest-to-goodness entomologist. Do gnats (in this case) spread dis-
ease (‘nosocomial zoonoses’ to sound erudite)? Gnatitis—never had
My colleagues were equally moved. One fellow-surgeon asked a patient come down with a case of that. One of the real concerns
when the Jimi Hendrix posters would appear. Another told me the was whether or not the lights might cause eye damage (or sterility).
lights emitted a heavy-acid-metallic-rock music that, apparently, only There are three categories of ultraviolet light: a, b, and c. UVb and
he could hear. An anesthesiologist swore that when he stood at one UVc may affect eyes and skin respectively, but UVa is safe. How do
particular intersection of corridors, where he could simultaneously they work? We can buy so-called ‘bug lights’ at Home Depot. These
triangulate three of the fly-killers, voices from outer space spoke to are low energy yellow and work by providing enough illumination
him (but he’s an anesthesiologist—been inhaling his own gases). Per- for humans to see at night but don’t attract bugs. But yellow lights
sonally, all I’ve noticed is a fluorescent glow to my lab coat. won’t kill the critters. On the other hand, high energy light (UVa,
365 nm) drives them wild with desire. Gnats are drawn to the pur-
I don’t get it. How do we go from zero bug prophylaxis all the way plish glow, but the light doesn’t do the killing—there is a sticky board
to the highest-tech devices in one fell swoop? Before I can operate in the back that wrestles them down (a quaint marriage of old and
on a patient’s back, I have to prove to the insurance company that new technology).
lesser measures have tried and failed. Here’s my point: Shouldn’t the
hospital have started with a few strategically placed fly-swatters? Low Don’t know about you, but I feel safer already.
tech and inexpensive. Then move on to those brown, sticky, tape Victor Hugo (1802-1885) once said: “Fame must have enemies as
things that hang from the ceilings and grab onto unsuspecting ento- light must have gnats.” Looks as though the technology is not all that
mological body parts. It’s more humane that way. At the end of each modern after all. Personally, I’m still good with fly swatters.
day, the OR supervisor could release the poor little beggars off the
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