Costly OR renovations and their downtime may soon be unnecessary if hospitals follow the lead of Spartanburg (S.C.) Regional Medical Center (SRMC). What the Spartanburg facility has that no other facility in North America can claim, for now, is a modular Variop OR system by German manufacturer Maquet (U.S. headquarters in Bridgewater, N.J.).

The Spartanburg system's attention-grabbers, surprisingly, are its walls. Instead of traditional painted plasterboard surfaces, the walls are made of powder-coated, 12-gauge stainless-steel panels. Even the colors are different: slate blue and bright green (more choices are available). Because the walls are powder-coated stainless steel, they're less likely to be damaged by collisions with carts, lessening downtime for wall repairs.

Furthermore, the panels, which attach to vertical supports and seal with foam- rubber strips, can be removed and reconfigured to accommodate new equipment and changing conditions that previously required tearing down and rebuilding walls. The walls can also be fitted with sections for a variety of control panels and x-ray-viewing screens.

Goodbye remodeling

The $13.2 million, 45,000 ft² project includes 12 ORs, with two more scheduled for completion in March. The facility annually completes more than 11,000 surgical procedures. “The engineering and technology that went into this system will let us stay current without ever having to remodel,” says Spartanburg Regional President and CEO Ingo Angermeier.

Tonie Edwards, director of surgical services, is credited with bringing the Variop system to the U.S. Edwards ‘discovered’ Variop about eight years ago while in Europe to visit facilities using Maquet operating tables. She was sold on the tables, but was also sold on the Variop installations she saw.

More than 2,000 Variop operating rooms have been installed worldwide and many have been used in Europe for more than 25 years without being refurbished. But eight years ago, Maquet's prime product for the U.S. was, and still is, operating tables. Because of stringent building codes, Maquet was reluctant to test U.S. waters with its modular OR, says Kevin Gilroy, Maquet's senior business development director.

When the decision was finally made in 2007 to move forward with the project, Spartanburg succeeded because of a staffer well-versed in building codes. After the purchase order was finalized, it took less than a year to complete the installation, on time and on budget.

The staffer who knows his way around a construction site is Jason Head. He oversees 24 hospital employees in the construction department as the hospital's licensed general contractor. Head and his team saw to it that the system met local building codes and UL standards for fire safety.

Head points out that the system's ceilings are above all the rest. The suspended ceiling has removable panels for maintenance and refitting work. The visible ceiling is about 10 ft. high, but there's an additional 8 ft. of space above.

“We can get a 16-ft. ladder through the ceiling when the panels are removed to access the ceiling's air-supply system,” says Head. The system traps bacteria, viruses, and dust particles before the air enters the room. The sterile-air distributor generates a low-turbulence displacement flow. And the result: The area around the operating table is kept at a low pathogen level of 10 colony-forming units/m³. The one-way stream (ceiling to floor) of filtered air exits through vents near the floor. The air distributors can be detached or swung away for filter changes. Furthermore, the ceiling accommodates mounted booms for equipment and lighting, thereby eliminating wiring and potential safety hazards.

Common-sense features

The Variop system has many common-sense features that the developer says others don't. For example, tap a “kick strip” with your knee and the OR doors open. At sinks outside the ORs, where the surgical team washes their hands, sensors ensure a continuous flow of water until the surgeon or nurse finishes washing. And patients can be transported to and from the OR on Maquet mobile operating tables. The motor-powered table adjusts to extreme positioning for surgical procedures.

But the favorite OR feature for the Spartanburg surgical teams just might be the glass-encased blinds that let in natural light, says Mary Jane Jennings, Spartanburg's vice president of perioperative and quality services. These “windows to the world” open and close with the push of a button. She adds that for employees who might not see daylight for hours, acessible natural light contributes to well-being and morale.