2 6 • S U P P L E M E N T
T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
Dividing the space
Begin your facility's design where costly flexible
endoscopes are reprocessed and readied for proce-
dures. Make sure the reprocessing room has the
proper space to clean, disinfect, dry and store scopes
without the possibility of cross contamination.
Reprocessing rooms should be comprised of
three separate areas for manual cleaning, high-level
disinfecting and drying and storage. The size of
each area depends on the number of physicians in
the center and the volume of procedures being
done each day; the key is to
design a space that allows a one-
direction flow from work spaces
where contaminated scopes are
treated to separate work areas
where clean scopes are dried
and stored. Ideally, you should
dedicate 100 square feet for each
space dedicated to the manual
cleaning, high-level disinfecting,
and drying and storing of scopes.
Whatever square footage is
left after designing this critical
area can be divvied up for the
rest of the facility. After being
involved with the planning and
designing of GI centers for the
past few decades, I can tell you
the trifecta of reasons for build-
ing yourself a new, bigger facility
— or renovating and expanding
your current space — comes
down to reimbursement rates,
steadily increasing case volumes
and skilled physicians who have
the ability to perform a wide-
range of procedures.
What types of cases currently
fill your procedure rooms? How
many colonoscopy screenings do
you schedule each year? Are your
physicians performing advanced
procedures, such as endoscopic
retrograde cholangiopancreatog-
raphy (ERCP)? ERCP is a proce-
dure that requires a great amount of skill to per-
form, making it a significant revenue-driver — and a
good reason to upgrade your current space. Adding
it requires a C-arm, which means you'll need more
floor space in procedure rooms.
Older rooms in some HOPDs and dedicated GI
centers are only about 200 square feet to 250 square
feet, which must feel like working in a closet. Think
about it — if you have two to three people in the
room, plus the patient, and all the equipment, you
have very little room to maneuver. Ideally, GI suites
CLEAN START Reprocessing rooms should be a top priority during the design phase.
Pamela
Bevelhymer