New Parkland operating suites nearly twice the size of current suites
Enhanced video capability allows for remote teaching, consultations
When Parkland hospital opened at its current Harry Hines location in 1954 it featured a state-of-the-art operating suite comprised of 18 rooms. Although 60 years have passed, technology has changed and volumes have continued to rise, there has been one constant – the number of operating rooms.
But that will change when the new Parkland hospital opens its doors in August.
“We will open with 24 operating rooms, which includes a hybrid OR,” said Lou Saksen, Senior Vice President of New Parkland Construction. “The hybrid will be a room that has imaging equipment built in for rapid diagnoses of injuries.”
In addition to the 24 rooms, there are nine obstetrics specialty surgical suites with laparoscopic capability in every OR. At 650 square feet, the new ORs are nearly twice the size of those in the current hospital. Eight video screens allow surgeons to access patient test results and other vital information inside the OR and video capabilities also will make it easy for medical students and residents to learn and observe remotely. Parkland is the primary teaching hospital for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
The suite also includes a room specially designed for burn surgeries. As home to the regional burn center, Parkland admits more than 650 patients of all ages with serious burn injuries annually and treats more than 1,200 outpatients. While most ORs are generally in the upper 60s or low 70s, temperatures in an operating suite where surgery is performed on a burn patient can soar into the 90s. In the new Parkland only the area immediately surrounding the operating table will be in the heat zone while the rest of the suite stays cool.
Staff in Parkland’s operating suites are available 24/7 to handle any type of surgical case that may present. In fiscal year 2014, Parkland performed 15,646 surgeries on the main campus and another 4,514 in its Simmons Ambulatory Surgery Center located at the corner of Harry Hines Boulevard and Medical District Drive.
“Since the current facility opened in 1954, we’ve been ‘landlocked’ for lack of a better word. We’ve had the same number of relatively small ORs even though our volumes have continued to climb,” said Richard Stetzel, RN, Director of Perioperative Services. “The new hospital will provide us with not only additional ORs, but with space for teaching as well as storage.”
A larger Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) will also benefit surgical patients. The current hospital has space for about 18 patients who are waking up from surgery but have not been transferred to inpatient units or back to day surgery for discharge. The new Parkland will have 41 PACU spaces including two isolation rooms, five private rooms and the remainder open bays with privacy curtains. There are several desks with computers for documentation in the center of the PACU giving visibility to nurses who are monitoring patients in the open bays.
“Although many of our day surgery cases take place in our Simmons Ambulatory Surgery Center, there are many that take place on the main campus,” Stetzel said. “Our day surgery capability will increase from 20 beds in the current hospital to 28.”
Back