What are you doing to change how patients experience surgery?
The overwhelming majority of children undergo anesthetic induction
alone in the OR, and they're often emotionally unprepared for enter-
ing an environment where lights are bright and masked providers are
preparing the room for surgery. After what I went through with my
daughter, I'm very interested in finding ways to lessen the anxiety of
pediatric patients and their parents during that time.
What can be done to make anesthesia less frightening for them?
I've helped examine the impact of using induction rooms, which are
built adjacent to the ORs and are a place where children are anes-
thetized in a warm environment by an unmasked anesthesia provider.
The darkened rooms have LED light constellation patterns on the ceil-
ing and parents can hold their children's hands throughout the
process. Moving forward, I think facilities will incorporate designs
like this to increase points of contact between family members and
patients at appropriate points throughout their care.
Do induction rooms improve surgical care in other ways?
Yes, through parallel processing. Having patients undergo anesthesia
induction while the OR is being prepared for them significantly
reduces the amount of time they spend in pre-op. The longer patients
wait, the more stressed they get, so induction rooms reduce patient
anxiety and increase efficiencies. It's a concept that fosters friendlier,
faster care, and I think that's the future of surgical design.
OSM
Dr. Wingler (deborahwingler@gmail.com) is a research assistant professor
with the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing at Clemson
University and the president of Healing Design Integration in Clemson, S.C.
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