INFORMATION MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
equipment to ensure optimal working conditions for surgeons. It is clear that constant ventilation of an
operating room is mandatory, remaining under positive air pressure, to prevent the entry of bacteria into the room, significantly minimising the risk of infection to the patient. However, ventilation plant need not operate at maximum levels when no operation is in progress. Integrated control systems allow efficient use of energy, automatically adjusting ventilation and other key parameters when there is no surgery taking place.
The biggest challenge The biggest challenge to the successful completion of the new theatres was the time at which the project took place. In 2020, Hospital Alemán completed the purchase of a comprehensive system of modular operating rooms from Karl Storz Company. Then the pandemic started and travel restrictions came into force. However, against all odds, the plan to build a surgical facility incorporating the latest technology continued.
Process In the first stage, programming and design were developed remotely. The meetings were held online, where the client – Hospital Alemán – AFS Arquitectos, and the system provider, agreed on the way to
meet various different needs. In a second stage, the construction
progressed through collaboration between the local and international personnel involved, and with the equipment supplier able to view progress via video. This also helped to resolve any installation issues. Then the materials and integration equipment arrived from Germany. To cater for the distances between those
in charge of this great project (part of the team was in Germany, another part in Brazil, and the work was being carried out in Argentina), weekly meetings were held to show the progress made. The supplier company subcontracted a local business to carry out the work, making its own staff from Germany available to train those ‘on the ground’. They stayed for a certain time, and then had to return. Thereafter, any issues were resolved through video calls. Despite some difficulties along the way, but always with perseverance, as a team we managed to successfully build this new modular and integrated system of state-of- the-art operating rooms.
n Acknowledgment
This article, titled ‘Innovative solutions for operating rooms’, first appeared in the IFHE Digest 2023. HEJ would like to thank the author, the Digest’s Editor, and the IFHE, for allowing its reproduction in slightly edited form here.
Maria Julia Souto
Maria Julia Souto graduated in Architecture at Buenos Aires University (Argentina) in 2012. After a journey of collaborations with architects and companies, she has acquired extensive design-build healthcare project experience at AFS Arquitectos.
She specialises in highly complex area development within healthcare buildings. Her key projects to date have included Sanatorio Finochietto (2014), Sanatorio Anchorena San Martín (2018), and, most recently, Hospital Alemán Torre Juncal II (2022).
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Technology for those who care
November 2023 Health Estate Journal 35
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