Design Philosophy

Function follows form

At the heart of the Optimus ISE is the experience one feels when entering the room– calm, clean, and integrated. That the promise of the future has finally arrived. It is the antithesis of the cluttered and visually disorienting OR’s that are still being built today. Light is the first component: an infinitely adjustable ambient glow fills the room imparting a positive psychological response from surgical team and patient. Illuminating the central surgical theater is diffuse neutral light automatically tuned to follow biological circadian rhythms throughout the day. And surgeons will now have the most advanced and articulate operative lighting for any procedure while reducing contamination risk.

Even the way surgical supplies are retrieved and waste disposed of improves workflow while passively enhancing sterility.

The patient benefits directly from the Optimus approach, comforted by pleasing light and a table surface warmed from within. Intuitive control of devices within an uncluttered space combined with unparalleled sterility all contribute to improved outcomes.

Practicality

The inner circle of the surgical theater is the ultimate sterile space. In the ISE those devices required at tableside receive their service connections (power, medical gases, communications) right at the table via a table pod, eliminating power cords and hoses trailing from wall outlets and boom-mounted service units. Devices and staff not directly required by the surgeon do not enter the inner circle. This approach reduces distraction and enforces sterility where it counts. Outside of the circle, devices such as anesthesia, cardio-pulmonary support, dialysis, etc., receive all of their service connections via floor pods, further eliminating trailing cords and hoses.

Clean look and feel

Over time medical devices have entered the OR through a process of accretion. OR design responded by adding more outlets to the walls, then added service booms and surgical lighting hanging from the ceiling. The room became defined by hardware, with the surgical team coexisting within the remaining space. The Optimus ISE has been conceived of as an integrated whole rather than a collection of parts filling a room. Devices such as monitors and waste receptacles have been removed from the interior space, retractable floor pods supply service connections only where they’re needed eliminating ever-present booms, and large surgical lighting heads located inches above a surgeon’s head are now replaced by a constellation of smaller, intelligent units residing in their own integrated environment. Wall, floor and ceiling surfaces are seamless with curved intersections. Supply cabinets are recessed, exposing only their access doors. The result is an OR space that is inherently clean by design.

Multifunctionality

Another aspect of clean design embodies multifunctionality. Exemplifying this approach are the RFID Cabinets, Information Displays, and Integrated plenum. The RFID cabinets not only provide an organized repository for the sterile supplies required for surgery, but also integrate a supply-chain inventory system that indicates where specific items are located and communicates directly with the hospital’s central supply department. Surgical staff can quickly find if an item exists in their cabinets or in a nearby ISE. The pass-through design also means that delivery personal do not need to enter the ISE to stock the cabinets, and electrochromic glass ensures privacy.

Three large-screen information displays provide customizable content specific to each screen such as patient vital signs, history, lab and oncology reports, diagnostic imaging, real-time endoscopic and surgical site imaging, and video teleconferencing. Recessed in each of three walls, the ISE displays further eliminate small boom-mounted monitors and provide unprecedented versatility.

The area directly over the surgical table is of special significance. Illumination must come from this zone, yet it is critical that open surgical wounds remain free of non-sterile particles. Standard boom-mounted surgical lighting is an ever-present source of such particles, and results in a cluttered, encroached environment. The Optimus Integrated Plenum eliminates all booms and simultaneously houses the surgical lighting system and AV sensors, circadian room lighting, and is the source of a smooth laminar flow of filtered air over the surgical table area. Without turbulence caused by boom-mounted lights and monitors this laminar airflow creates a virtual curtain separating the inner circle from the outside non-sterile zone. And, there is a clear line-of-sight to all three info displays.

Remote equipment monitoring

All of the major Optimus components are controlled within the ISE via wifi-enabled tablet computers communicating with a co-located server. A hard-wired ethernet connection allows access for remote monitoring and troubleshooting. Additionally, four high-resolution cameras in the ISE provide video-teleconference capability during surgery as well as remote room inspection. Together these allow for remote intelligence and diagnostics at any time.

Simplicity

No modern-day OR can be considered “simple,” but complexity can be managed and design can have great influence over how complicated a device or procedure is perceived. The Optimus ISE brings control of major components under a unified and intuitive interface. The graphical symbology of the user interface is consistent among all Optimus components so the user can confidently control many devices without mentally having to switch design paradigms. We bring the tracking of surgical supplies to the supply cabinets themselves, assisting the user in finding items quickly. We eliminate physical and visual clutter by recessing lighting, displays, service connections, and waste receptacles, allowing a clear line-of-sight across the room. Along with integrated ambient lighting it creates a psychologically more comfortable and efficient room to be in. Rather than ineffective “spot-cleaning” the Optimus ISE incorporates non-porous antimicrobial walls and ceiling and a system to deeply sterilize the whole room. Curved wall/floor/ceiling intersections prevent particulate accumulation and look aesthetically clean by design.

In totality, the Optimus ISE is just that, an integrated surgical environment, conceived as a whole rather than a sum of parts. Efficiency, safety, and sterility are implicitly enhanced by design. Many of the common problems that plague traditional OR’s simply cannot occur in the ISE because they have been eliminated by design. In its place the Optimus ISE brings the future of the OR here today, by design.