Cutting edge OR creation

The inputs of patients, surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologist, technicians and engineering team need be sought in the design of OR.

- Deepak Agarkhed

Do we need 99.97 % efficient HEPA filter for clean air supply in any operating room (OR)? Do we need anesthesia gas scavenging system for each OR? These are a few questions that come up to hospital team whenever a new OR is planned. Unfortunately, most hospital team go with what contractor or consultant who have limited functional experience on hospital OR say. This may result into the over design or serious lapses in functional requirement, leading to compromised OR.

The OR in any hospital is very specialised high risk clinical facility to carry out invasive procedures on patient under stringent aseptic condition by trained personnel. The correctness of design will directly improve patient healing and cure, improving productivity of OR. The inputs of patients, surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologist, technicians besides engineering team need be sought in design of OR in conjunction with engineering service consultant and contractor. The proper design, planning and execution OR is a fine balance between quality, cost and time factors to yield better results on a long-term basis.

The following steps are recommended to be considered during design and commissioning of new OR:

The OR set-up: The size and location of OR depends on the level of care provided to patients like general purpose and super speciality as defined in the NABH guidelines.

The functional area location common to OR like clean and dirty utility, pre and postoperative area, should reviewed. The lean concept of shortest path of patient, material, equipment, employee and information flow in and out of OR needs to be considered. The OR layout should avoid/ minimise the mix of sterile and unsterile patients and materials.