NEW YORK CITY, NY – December 6, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — In an effort to further improve patient care, St. Vincent’s Medical Center has built a hybrid operating room (OR) that will combine minimally invasive and interventional surgical technologies with medical imaging and communications. BAM Architecture Studio, a leader in healthcare design, created the space.
St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut is a 473-bed community teaching and referral hospital with a Level II trauma center and a 76-bed inpatient psychiatric facility in Westport. The Center provides a full range of inpatient and outpatient services with regional centers of excellence in cardiology, surgery, cancer care, orthopedics, diagnostics, women’s and family services, behavioral health, senior health and an array of specialized services.
The project involved carving a hybrid OR out of an existing 10-room OR suite. The challenge was to increase the size of one OR without disrupting the other nine. BAM achieved this by relocating a portion of the OR support space and reconfiguring the support spaces that are critical to the circulation and function of the entire suite. The assignment also required expansion and reconfiguration of an existing pathology lab that was adjacent to the OR suite.
“A great deal of thought goes into designing these two-in-one operating rooms,” says Ross Adam Cole, principal of BAM Architecture Studio. “The flexibility and circulation of the space, infection control concerns and aesthetics are all factors that must be considered.”
For example, the integration of moveable complex machinery, sometimes large and with swinging parts, is essential. “Much of a hybrid OR’s medical equipment is hung from overhead rails or booms or has wheels for easy mobility. We needed to orchestrate the stage, ensuring that all medical staff can move about freely and with ease, thus reducing the possibility of errors,” Mr. Cole explains.
Another challenging aspect of the project was its aggressive schedule. St. Vincent’s hybrid OR needed to be completed in five months without any shutting down of the adjacent operating rooms. In order to achieve its deadline, BAM had weekly meetings with the hospital facility team, end-users, the engineer and construction managers to organize the process and avoid any major changes along the way. The team identified critical items to keep the project moving and to make sure that long-lead items were procured in a timely fashion.
As part of the fast-track process, BAM also completed demolition and other portions of the design work prior to the completion of the full documents. This enabled construction to move forward, while other aspects of the project were still in design.
“We had big expectations for this multi-disciplinary project, including having it completed in a very short time period, and BAM Architecture Studio did a tremendous job designing a hybrid OR that is a terrific addition to the hospital,” says Brooke Karlsen, RN, BSN, MSN and director of surgical services at St. Vincent’s Medical Center. “They listened to our needs, understood the complexities of the project, and kept us on track, so we could meet our timeline and achieve our specific goals. It was an excellent experience from start to finish, and we couldn’t be happier with the result.”
BAM Architecture Studio has completed a number of hybrid operating rooms at nearby Yale-New Haven Hospital, and is familiar with all aspects of designing these increasingly popular medical spaces.
“In time, hybrid operating rooms will be ubiquitous, but there are still many hospitals that are just starting to focus on these multi-purpose rooms. An understanding of the space’s usage, the medical practitioner’s requirements and the patient’s comfort and needs is instrumental when planning these hybrid ORs,” says Mr. Cole.
Founded in 2000, BAM Architecture Studio specializes in strategically solving space problems for healthcare, research and corporate clients. The highly skilled team, comprising architects, interior designers, lab planners, workplace consultants and graphic designers, collaboratively works out design challenges on time and on budget. BAM Architecture Studio has offices in New York City and Durham, North Carolina. For more information, visit www.bam-studio.com.
About BAM Architecture Studio
Specializes in strategically solving space problems for healthcare, research and corporate clients. The highly skilled team, comprising architects, interior designers, lab planners, workplace consultants and graphic designers, collaboratively works out design challenges on time and on budget.
Client: BAM Architecture Studio
415 West Broadway
New York, NY 10012
From: Jeannette Boccini, LVM Group Inc.
jeannette (at) lvmgroup (dot) com; 212-499-6566
