Walk into any modern surgical room and you will see overhead booms for exam lights, vitals monitors, medical gas stations, and a variety of other medical equipment. Hospitals are changing the way surgical suites are being utilized to increase productivity and patient flow. Sophisticated medical equipment is being installed to reduce patient recovery times and minimize infection risks. These advancements in medical technology are transforming hospitals into state-of-the-art, high-tech facilities.
What can’t be seen, hiding above the ceiling, is the chaos of overlapping steel supports, conduits, ducts, piping, and other auxiliaries needed to sustain medical equipment. How can this congestion be managed and maintained? More importantly, how can these support systems be adapted to improve the productivity and flexibility of the surgical suite?
As healthcare needs continue to rise, hospitals are striving to improve patient care, attract highly talented doctors, and utilize the latest innovation in medical equipment. The typical hospital facility is in a constant state of change. Facility owners are tasked to manage this change while maintaining productivity and profitability of the hospital.
The surgical suite is the most dynamic room within the hospital; therefore, the ability to maintain the productivity of a surgical suite is critical to a hospital’s revenue potential. Support systems within these surgical suites that can easily adapt to change can improve productivity, shorten facility downtime, reduce the impact on patients and staff, and improve operating margins over the life of the facility.
With recent developments in modular steel girder design for overhead equipment supports, healthcare facility owners now have the option of one solution that provides flexibility of the supports to adapt as the hospital evolves, as well as offers better organization of the above-ceiling congestion. Modular steel girders are used to create a universal grid design for operating rooms, which allows a standard operating room to transition for orthopedic, cardiovascular, trauma, endovascular, or hybrid use with less impact to the existing structure.
