Bon Secours St. Francis, Hybrid Operating Room

A typical hybrid operating room (OR) is 1,000-1,400 square feet with 15-foot tall ceilings. On this project, however, we had 745 SF and 10-foot tall ceilings in which to create a functional hybrid OR space.

Space Limitations Drive Creative Equipment Solutions
The team overcame the challenge of the low floor-to-floor height by selecting robotic imaging equipment and relocating the existing OR pendant lights out of the no-fly zone. By modeling the space and equipment in 3D in addition to mocking up the room in full scale, we defined the equipment and surgical light boom trajectories and located the laminar flow, monitors, rad-shield, and anesthesia equipment to meet staff needs.

Overcoming Existing Structural Challenges to Accommodate Equipment
To accommodate the tolerances of the equipment, the concrete slab was ground down to create the perfectly level conditions required for the floor mounted equipment and C-arm path of travel. The new proprietary flooring contains copper wire to dissipate static charges as the machinery rolls across the surface.

Because the room spanned two different structural systems due to its placement partially under an original tower and partially within new construction, we added steel reinforcement to the existing bar joists in the older part of the room to handle the load of the new ceiling mounted equipment.

Construction choices mitigate disturbance to an active department
Rather than having workers, equipment, and materials traverse the sterile OR department, the contractor created access to the OR by cutting a door in an adjacent exterior wall. The space was also accessible from above and below.

Located in Greenville, SC, the project was completed in 2016.