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Olga Deshchenko, DOTmed News Reporter | August 15, 2011
From the August 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Final words of advice
Timing and staff training are two more major aspects to be mindful of before opening the doors of a hybrid OR.
Some hospitals have managed to design, furnish and go live with a hybrid OR within months but such a timeline is highly unusual. “A hospital looking to design a hybrid OR from scratch really needs to anticipate 18 months to two years of work. And a big bulk of that is in the planning stages,” says GE’s McIff.
Once the OR is completed, experts recommend that the staff get acquainted with the room and its equipment. “Most of the time, when the system is supposed to go live, we request that everyone who is going to be operating the system be dedicated to attending the educational component without the patient,” says Siemens’ Kulkarni.
For many staff members, the hybrid OR will be a completely new environment. For instance, OR nurses might not know how to best protect themselves from imaging radiation and radiology techs may be unfamiliar with the sterile requirements of an OR. Thus, cross-training the staff is essential, points out Philips’ Naus.
Whether or not a hospital can embark on a hybrid OR project today is dependent on the facility’s clinical goals and budgetary considerations. But it’s hard to argue with the value a hybrid room can bring to a hospital’s patients, staff and bottom line.
Many experts also predict that new medical technology will continue to foster collaboration between various specialties and eventually lead to a new space, a universal operating room.
“While I think that [universal ORs] are several years off, the investment that enables physicians to work together in a multidisciplinary manner is definitely going to be a trend that’s here to stay, both on the surgical and interventional side,” says The Advisory Board’s Ford.
And Lombardi’s response to what he would change about Cooper University Hospital’s hybrid room in hindsight reaffirms the trend. “I would’ve built two of them,” the surgeon said.
DOTmed Registered OR Suite Companies
Names in boldface are Premium Listings.
Domestic
Daniel Giesberg, American Medical Sales, CA
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Yves S Christopher Custodio Herrera, BJ'S TRADING LLC, CA
G. John Oggel, Green Cross Medical/ GOMED, CA
Richard Ojalvo, Medical Resources Inc, CA
Scott Patneaude, ACE Medical Equipment Inc., FL
DOTmed Certified
Moshe Alkalay, Hi Tech Int'l Group, FL
DOTmed Certified
Clinton Courson, Quest Medical Supply, Inc., FL
DOTmed 100
Alda Clemmey, Saffire Medical, MA
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
Nicole Rasch, Seiler Instruments, MO
Gregory Wallace, H&S MEDICAL, NH
Sam Joshi, Maquet Inc., NJ
Philip Mothena, Simple Solutions, Inc., VA
International
Ashish Bhavsar, Wave Visions, India
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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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