Ergonomic operating department design

Conclusion

There is no really effective “one-size-fitsall” method for building an OR unit. While a multitude of regulations (hygiene, fire protection etc. ...) need to be complied with, and there are minimum requirement recommendations regarding, for example, the size and structural configuration of operating rooms and auxiliary rooms, such recommendations need to be adapted to the prevailing circumstances.

Likewise, the level and type of medical care (general hospital, primary care hospital, specialised medical centre, clinic etc) being provided, and the type of owning organisation (public, non-profit organisation or private company) running the hospital need to be considered. On the basis of the results gathered from the checklist and the survey, recommendations can be put forward suitable for planning, designing and building a new OR unit with comparable key parameters (number of operating rooms, number of, and type of, surgical disciplines, level of medical care etc).

References

1 Koneczny S., Matern U. (2006). Checklist for the evaluation of OR systems including architecture and instrument design; In: Pikaar R.N., Koningsveld E.A.P., Settels P.J.M. (edit); Proceedings IEA2006 Congress; Elsevier Ltd. 2006; ISSN 0003-6870.

2 Koneczny S., Matern U. (2006). Combining Checklists and Staff Surveys – A Powerful Tool to Evaluate Operating Rooms; HFES-Proceedings 2006: 834-834.

3 Koneczny S., Matern U. (2005). Checklists – Suitable Tools for Usability Testing; HFES-Proceedings 2005: 955-959.

4 Koneczny S. (2004).Erstellung eines Fragebogens und einer Checkliste zur Beurteilung der ergonomischen Verhältnisse in Operationssälen sowie die Befragung von Chirurgen anhand des erstellten Fragebogens und die Evaluation bestehender Operationssäle unter Verwendung der erstellten Checkliste. Master Thesis, University Hospital Tuebingen and University of Applied Sciences Furtwangen.

The content of this article is an adaptation of a paper presented at the 2nd European Conference on Healthcare Engineering held in Vienna, Austria, last autumn. The event was hosted by the Austrian Association of Hospital Engineers (ÖKVT) in cooperation with other International Federation of Hospital Engineering – Europe associations, including IHEEM.