Operating Room Floor Plan
The floor plan of a well-organized and safe OR involves a great deal of research and planning.
It is a complex environment with numerous design criteria. The layout of the facility
directly effects user productivity and satisfaction. The OR must be arranged in a
manner that is conducive to the flow of patients, staff, and equipment. It also must include
space for functional support areas that are common to most ORs, such as instrument processing,
technical support, and equipment storage areas. It is necessary for clinical engineers
to have knowledge of the OR layout and design issues. Clinical engineers, as
technical experts of medical technology and the environment in which it is used, also may
serve as a valuable resource in the design of an OR.
The arrangement of surgical suites often reflects a hospital’s available space and
surgical requirements. Several OR floor plans have been developed to utilize available
space and maximize productivity most ideally. The L- or T-shaped single-corridor layout
is common in smaller ORs. Larger facilities typically utilize the multiple-corridor layout,
with the clustering of surgical suites by surgical specialty. (Bronzino, 1992). Grouping
surgical specialties together aids in the efficiency of sharing common resources.
The location of functional support areas that serve the OR is another important consideration
in a floor plan. The efficiency of these services is enhanced when the distances
that must be traveled are minimized. The following is a list of some functional
support areas that are commonly found in, or adjacent to, the OR.