By HUGH PATTERSON
An operating theatre planning tool developed in Auckland can save hospitals millions of dollars in construction costs and mean more effective use of facilities.
Hailed as a first by its developers, healthcare specialists Haycock Klein Architects - and managers who have previewed it - the tool allows decisions to be made on equipment and services before walls are locked in place.
Using an overhead service boom and a laminar flow hood, those who will use the room can position trolleys, tables and equipment before managers decide on the theatre's size and location.
Company director James Klein said the result would be fewer grey hairs for managers, fewer frustrations for clinicians and more effective and economic flows for hospitals and patients.
The value of operating room work in process or projected was about $85 million, and the equipment and construction cost for each square metre was five times that of a standard house, so it was essential to get requirements right, he said.
"Talking is fine but I believe people are far more visual. You can mark out a 6m-square operating room on your back lawn or living room but there's no concept of the amount of equipment and material that is needed.
"That includes an anaesthesia machine and table extensions which for orthopaedics can be 2m long.
"Then there are trolleys and cables wandering around the floor."
Without an eye for the practical, maintaining a safe environment became exceedingly difficult, Mr Klein said.
Project adviser Ruth Whitehead, a former nurse, said that since operating rooms were a hospital's engines, designs that saved time and fitted requirements were essential.
Operating room managers were employed to organise personnel and workloads, which they did very effectively, she said.
"But suddenly, a hospital decides that it will refurbish ... or reconstruct.
"The directors say to these managers, 'You're the people who work here so give us some input.' But managers usually don't have the time, resources or specialist knowledge.
"Here managers and doctors can talk it out. Maybe they need two booms in the operating room; maybe they need gases from both sides. They could want three but that might increase problems from a health and safety perspective," said Mrs Whitehead.
"At the moment what [hospitals] do is borrow from the US, Britain and Australia. But while Australian standards and recommended practice might be fine in Sydney, it's not the same in Paihia," she said.
"I am collecting data so New Zealand can develop its own specific standards."
Planning is now a simpler operation
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.