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What This Guide Helps With
Troubleshoots intermittent Volista shutdowns, freezes, or restarts associated with power, controls, connections, environmental conditions, movement, or service-level faults.
Step-by-Step Troubleshooting
1. Protect the Patient Immediately
If the surgical light shuts down, freezes, or restarts during use, provide verified alternate surgical illumination before continuing troubleshooting. Do not repeatedly test an unstable system while a procedure depends on it.
Expected outcome: Patient care continues with dependable lighting and the affected Volista is removed from clinical dependence.
2. Capture the Event Details
Ask staff what happened immediately before the event. Record whether illumination stopped completely, controls froze while the light remained on, the display restarted, one head was affected, or the whole system cycled.
Expected outcome: The failure mode and affected portion of the installation are clearly defined.
3. Check for Obvious Safety Concerns
Inspect for unusual heat, burning odor, smoke, fluid intrusion, sparking, physical damage, or abnormal noise. If any are present, disconnect or isolate power according to facility safety procedures and do not re-energize the system.
Expected outcome: No immediate electrical or physical hazard is present, or the equipment is removed from service without further testing.
4. Verify Facility Power
Check normal power availability and investigate whether the event coincided with a facility outage, breaker event, emergency-power transfer, or work on the electrical system. Coordinate with Facilities where necessary.
Expected outcome: Facility power instability is identified or ruled out.
5. Inspect Accessible Power and Control Connections
Inspect accessible external cables, connectors, wall controls, and interfaces for looseness, damage, or strain. Pay attention to any connection that may have been disturbed by cleaning, construction, or recent service.
Expected outcome: Accessible connections are secure and undamaged.
6. Determine Whether Movement Triggers the Failure
With the device safely out of clinical use, move the light through its normal positioning range while observing operation. Do not disassemble joints or internal wiring paths.
Expected outcome: The system remains stable throughout movement. If shutdown or restart occurs reproducibly during movement, stop testing and remove it from service.
7. Check Environmental Conditions
Confirm that ventilation openings are unobstructed and that the system is not exposed to unusual heat, moisture, or environmental conditions. Do not open internal housings to investigate thermal components.
Expected outcome: No correctable external environmental condition explains the event.
8. Perform a Controlled Normal Restart
If no safety concerns are present, restart the system using normal approved controls and observe whether it initializes and remains stable.
Expected outcome: The system starts normally and remains operational. A single recovery is not sufficient if the original failure was intermittent.
9. Reproduce Normal Operation
Operate controls, intensity adjustment, positioning, and any clinically used accessories long enough to determine whether the failure recurs under the reported conditions.
Expected outcome: Operation remains stable with no freezes, shutdowns, or unintended restarts. If the external cause was identified and stability is verified, troubleshooting can stop.
10. Escalate an Intermittent Unexplained Failure
If the system freezes, shuts down, or restarts again without a verified external cause, remove it from service even if it subsequently appears normal.
Expected outcome: Intermittent unreliability is treated as a service issue rather than cleared without evidence.
If the Problem Persists
Common facility-power, connection, movement-related, control, and environmental causes have been ruled out. The remaining issue may involve internal power electronics, wiring, control electronics, software, thermal protection, or another service-level fault.
Remove the system from service, label it Out of Service, and arrange qualified repair or technical evaluation using current Getinge documentation and approved test equipment. Do not attempt internal board-level troubleshooting or unauthorized software/configuration changes.
Before return to service, verify repeated stable startup, sustained illumination, controls, positioning, and all clinically used functions. Knowing when to stop external troubleshooting is proper troubleshooting.
Clinical Use Tip
An intermittent surgical light that works again after restarting is not automatically safe to return to service; the cause and stability must be verified.
Work Order Documentation (CCR Method)
CCR = Complaint, Cause, Resolution
Complaint
What was reported by the clinical staff.
Example:
"OR staff reported that the Volista unexpectedly restarted when the light was repositioned."
Cause
What was observed during troubleshooting.
Example:
"Clinical Engineering reproduced the event during arm movement and found an accessible external connection under strain."
Resolution
What action was taken.
Example:
"The connection and cable routing were corrected within approved external service limits, repeated movement and lighting tests remained stable, and the system was returned to service."
Helpful Details to Include (If Known)
- Exact shutdown, freeze, or restart behavior
- One light head or entire system affected
- What occurred immediately before the event
- Facility power events
- Heat, odor, noise, damage, or fluid exposure
- Accessible connection condition
- Whether movement reproduces the issue
- Environmental conditions
- Number of successful retests
- Final device status
Final Thought
Treat intermittent loss of surgical illumination seriously, capture the circumstances, verify external power and connections first, require stable repeat testing, and escalate unexplained recurrence.
That is successful troubleshooting.