The new tower opening on April 29 at UConn John Dempsey Hospital will be home to an impressive, state-of-the-art operating suite. By opening day, 10 of the tower’s new spacious operating rooms (ORs) will be open for business.
Patients arriving for their scheduled surgeries will be able to conveniently access the new dedicated surgical wing through the new hospital’s lobby via its left corridor. The dedicated surgical wing’s check-in area provides a concierge desk, a waiting room, and private consult rooms for surgery patients and their families to meet with staff, doctors, and nurses.
Its spacious post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) will serve a dual purpose with both dedicated areas for temporary pre-surgical patient care and post-surgical patient recovery offering 30 private patient rooms, two isolation rooms, and six staff workstations. The PACU is conveniently attached to the ORs.
The operating suite will have spacious 600 sq. ft. ORs including: three general surgery rooms, two heart surgery rooms (with one available 24/7), two total joint orthopaedic surgery rooms, and one general orthopaedic surgery room. Plus, two 800 sq. ft. dedicated operating rooms for both neurosurgery and spine surgery. These largest ORs are where innovative robotic spine surgery procedures will occur. UConn John Dempsey Hospital is the first in New England to offer patients more precise, pioneering robotic-guided spine surgery with the Mazor Robotics Renaissance Guidance System.
“This is an exciting development for UConn Health and our patients,” said Dr. David W. McFadden, chair of the Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief at UConn Health. “The highest quality state-of-the-art surgical care in the region will be easily accessible in the Farmington Valley.”
In addition, this fall a high-tech hybrid OR will open with built-in advanced imaging capabilities for surgeons performing minimally invasive procedures, especially interventional vascular procedures. Also, there is space for a potential second hybrid OR to be added later.
Each OR will have high-tech equipment elevated off the floor and hanging from the ceiling. This technology includes large plasma screens and LED surgical boom lights to assist each surgeon with brighter and sharper vision of the surgical field while lowering heat output.
Also, high-resolution Black Diamond video systems are in each OR room with real-time video and photo image capabilities for direct communication with the Department of Pathology during surgery or supporting other audiovisual needs such as teleconferencing and live-broadcasts of surgery for physician training or medical education.
“We are all so excited to be moving into the new operating rooms in the new tower,” said Kevin Larsen, associate vice president for business and ancillary services for UConn John Dempsey Hospital. “The UConn Health team has worked tirelessly over the past few years to help design this new facility, which is truly state-of-the-art. The operating rooms are designed to allow for maximum efficiency and the highest levels of safety which will directly benefit all of our patients.”
For added patient safety and infection control, all the ORs have specialized, high-seamed sustainable rubber floors and special air filtration systems. Also, each OR features individual temperature controls.
Plus, OR staff offices including a dedicated lounge for surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and staff awaiting their upcoming procedures will be conveniently located just one floor above the OR Suite on the main or “M” level easily accessible via elevator or card accessed back staircase.
Dr. Thomas J. Yasuda, clinical chief of the Department of Anesthesiology adds: “Staff from the Department of Anesthesiology are extremely excited about opening the doors to the new Operating Rooms of the new tower. With 30 or more physicians, residents, CRNAs and PAs on site every day, we are excited to be able to provide comfortable, state-of-the-art anesthesia care in a new environment along with an unparalleled patient experience.”
“We are incredibly excited for our new state-of-the-art operating rooms,” said Ellen Benson RN, CNOR, operating room nurse manager at UConn Health. “Our new technology will allow us to continue to fulfill our mission of improving the health of the citizens of Connecticut through the innovative integration of research, education, and clinical care.”
Benson added: “As a 25 year employee of UConn Health, I am very proud to be a part of this exciting project and look forward to continuing to improve our services and promoting health care in our state.”
