of them. Integrated ORs are significantly more common in hospitals
than ASCs — 58% of our hospital-based respondents have them, while
only 25% of ASC-based ones do.
Many of our respondents who have integrated ORs touted the ability
to adjust surgical tables and lights or direct flat-screen monitors and
equipment suspended from ceiling-mounted booms — all without dis-
rupting the sterile field. "It's wonderful to do away with towers and
monitors that you have to bring into the room," says a staffer at an
Indiana hospital. "The RN isn't moving all over the room and can
change settings for everything in one location," says a Hawaii OR
Manager.
"It increases workflow and efficiency of the OR team and promotes
safety and accurate documentation," says Jason Smith, MSN, director
of perioperative services at Baylor Surgical Hospital in Fort Worth,
Texas.
Features and benefits
The most common feature shared by everyone's integrated ORs is the
ability to route video images anywhere in the room; 90% have this and
76% find it "very useful," at least in part because it lets everyone see
what the surgeon is seeing.
However, our respondents find one feature even more useful —
"The ability to bring in PACs images close to the field," says Sherry
Lynch, BSN, RN, MPA, director of surgical services at Aurora Medical
Center in Oshkosh, Wis. Ms. Lynch says her orthopedic surgeons and
podiatric surgeons use this feature the most.
Facility managers also like the systems' ability to help with room
turnover. If your integrated OR can "remember" the settings for each
surgeon, it enables a "quick set-up," says Pamela Richards, RN, MBA,
surgery program manager at Mackenzie Health in Richmond Hill,
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