Optimizing Hybrid Operating Rooms for the Patient, Part 1: Introduction and Overview

Image-guided therapy (IGT) and hybrid operating rooms are revolutionizing healthcare, as these integrative interventional suites combine traditional OR with real-time imaging before, during and after surgery.

The benefits are clear, as IGT and hybrid ORs enable clinicians to perform minimally invasive procedures and introduce groundbreaking therapies, driving better outcomes for patients, staff and hospitals.

Starting with an overview of benefits, this series discusses ways to optimize hybrid operating rooms for patients and how an enhanced patient experience can improve efficiency, productivity and even profitability organization-wide.

Greater precision with minimal invasiveness

Real-time, in-procedure imaging promotes greater accuracy and precision, enabling surgeons to access and navigate distal areas with less invasive techniques. With IGT, doctors can perform more complex procedures while minimizing tissue damage and patient trauma.

Instant diagnosis and treatment

Where conventional procedures often require separate appointments for imaging, diagnosis and subsequent treatment, IGT makes it possible to do all three in a single session. In today’s OR, doctors can image a patient who presents with chest pain, immediately diagnose lung cancer, then remove the tumor on the same day.

Multi-disciplinary capabilities

Hybrid ORs outfitted with IGT technology cater to multiple disciplines. Hospital staff can quickly switch instruments between procedures to perform different types of interventions in the same operating room. In addition, staff can convert an OR so patients can undergo multiple procedures in the same surgery, reducing the number of times they need anesthesia.

Increased staff efficiency and reduced hospital stays

IGT and hybrid ORs improve both patient and staff experiences, increasing efficiency and reducing the time patients spend in the hospital. A Philips Azurion study reports the following image-guided therapy outcomes:

• 17% reduction in average interventional procedure time
• 12% reduction in in-lab patient prep time
• 28% reduction in post-procedure time

Greater efficiency means hospitals can treat more patients faster and increase revenue by performing more procedures in less time.

Next steps

Discover ways to optimize the patient experience in Part 2 of this series.