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Olga Deshchenko, DOTmed News Reporter | August 15, 2011
From the August 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
And experts agree that the secret to building a successful hybrid room is to involve all of the end-users from the start. “We recognize that the hybrid OR finds a blurring of specialist capabilities and benefits from a multi-discipline, procedure management [perspective],” Steris’ Popilock said. “Thus, identification and involvement of stakeholders is essential to ensure a well-vetted design.”
The presence of hospital administrators, surgeons, anesthesiologists, other physician users, OR nurses, radiology techs and even facilities staff is vital throughout the planning process for a hybrid room.
To ensure that everyone is on the same page, Siemens’ Kulkarni says the company strongly recommends having all the hospital stakeholders and vendors participate in joint planning sessions.
Cross-functional participation also helps establish the management process, according to Berchtold’s Weismiller. “When that new room is brought online, the customers really feel like they designed it, it’s their room,” he says.
Once clinical goals are established and the hospital has set aside the necessary funds, the facility must find the appropriate space for the project.
A hybrid OR requires about 750 to 1,000 square feet of space, depending on the imaging system. Hospitals often use corridors, nearby office spaces or a storage area in between two ORs to capture enough square footage. “It’s a bit of a puzzle at times,” says Jeff Saunders, a senior project engineer with Trumpf.
And they can be heavy — sometimes, the ceiling or the floor of the intended location may lack the necessary infrastructure to support the weight of the equipment.
Photographed by
Leonard Myszynskim
sOlar eye communications
Experts also highly recommend site visits to existing hybrid ORs. Visiting peers who have already built their hybrid rooms enables facilities in the planning stages to avoid potential mistakes and get a sense of how a hybrid room functions once it’s completed.
Some vendors are even working to enable potential customers to go on “virtual” site visits. For example, Berchtold will soon launch a new feature on its website that will let hospitals browse existing hybrid ORs, as well as watch video interviews with the stakeholders and project staff involved in creating the room.
Dr Michael Friebe
Training and Integration needed ...
August 18, 2011 08:18
Nice review!
What is clear is the need for common standards (mainly software) to get the ideal and best suited environment for the individual purpose.
The next generation of Hybrid OR's integrating CT and MRI systems and possibly dedicated radiation therapy equipment (e.g. intraoperative RT procedures) is already on the horizon.
What still remains a problem is the staff training - no use to have a fancy OR and no one or not enough people who are able to use it properly. All in all exciting developments to come.
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