The hospital surgery suite has undergone revolutionary change over the past several decades. For a long time, the focus has been on shifting surgery to a lower-cost outpatient setting. This has been replaced with a focus on lowering both the costs and risks of surgery with the ongoing migration from invasive to less-invasive surgery or noninvasive procedures. Minimally-invasive, image-guided, robotic, and telesurgery ― along with intraoperative imaging techniques ― continue to replace traditional surgical procedures. Aside from the economies of scale achieved with larger surgical suites, the biggest single factor contributing to the overall footprint of the surgery suite is the size and specialization of the individual operating rooms (ORs). Other factors include the proportion of outpatient surgery performed in the suite, and the type of patient care spaces provided, as well as the efficiency of the surgical suite layout.
Pharmacies Are Renovating Space to Comply With USP 800
Research studies over the past several decades have indicated the possible harmful effects on healthcare workers from low-level work-related exposure to any of more than 200 medications that are considered hazardous drugs. As a result, the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) — a nonprofit compendium of drug information — published the nation’s first standards on the handling of hazardous drugs from receipt to disposal. Chapter 800, titled “Hazardous Drugs — Handling in Healthcare Settings,” applies to all healthcare personnel who handle hazardous drug preparations and all entities that store, prepare, transport, or administer hazardous drugs, such as pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, and physician offices. Hazardous drugs include those used for cancer chemotherapy, antiviral drugs, hormones, and some bioengineered drugs. Most existing pharmacies will need to modify their workflow, space, and infrastructure to comply with USP 800 when it becomes effective on December 1, 2019.
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How Many ORs? It’s Complicated
Planning a surgery suite used to be fairly simple. General operating rooms were used for a wide range of procedures with dedicated operating rooms limited to cardiac surgery and orthopedics. Today, the question “How many operating rooms are needed?” is complicated by more stringent distinctions between operating rooms and procedure rooms, changing technology and increasing specialization, and the convergence of diagnostic imaging and surgical procedures. From a facility planning perspective, the number, size, and specialization of the operating rooms (ORs) is the single biggest factor contributing to the overall footprint of the surgery suite (and project cost). Moreover, the numbers and sizes of related patient care and support spaces are planned based on the number and types of ORs. And, from an operational standpoint, the number of ORs drives ongoing staffing and related operational costs.
Private Donors Continue to be a Challenge
Any healthcare organization would be delighted to have a private donor fund a building project. Sometimes, however, the donor has no interest in the organization’s long-range capital investment strategy but wants to construct a building or fund a program that is not even on its radar screen. Most institutions are not in a position to reject such donations, and it is a rare administrator who has the backbone to turn down money rather than compromise the organization’s long-range facility master plan.
Physician Offices and Outpatient Clinics: How Many Exam Rooms?
Physician offices and outpatient clinics typically consists of a patient intake area with space for reception, check-in/check-out, and waiting; exam/treatment space with a number of identical exam rooms, several office/consultation rooms, and one or more special procedure rooms; and associated clinical and administrative support space. Physician office space may be located in a medical office building (either freestanding or connected to a hospital), co-located with diagnostic and treatment services in a comprehensive ambulatory care center, or part of an institute or center organized along a specific service line — such as a Sports Medicine Center, Heart Center, or Cancer Center. Planning space for physician offices (also referred to as physician practice space) and outpatient clinics begins with determining how many exam rooms are needed and two different approaches are commonly used.
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Confusing Net and Gross Square Feet Can be Disastrous
Frequent misunderstandings arise when hospital leaders, department staff, planners, and architects confuse net square feet with gross square feet (or net square meters and gross square meters). It is particularly disturbing when facility planners and architects do not specify the exact type of space in their documents.
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