COUNCIL BLUFFS — Mercy Hospital has finished the first two operating rooms in an upgrade and expansion of its surgery department that, when finished, will equip seven ORs with new technology so laparoscopic surgery can be done in any of them.
Mercy opened two minimally invasive operating rooms on March 1, said Lynn Crowley, operations director for surgery at the Alegent hospital. The other three rooms and two new ones are scheduled to open in November.
Among the procedures commonly performed laparoscopically are gall bladder removal, appendectomy, laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy and arthroscopic knee surgery, she said. At least 15 to 20 surgeons use the rooms.
In addition to having two more operating rooms, all the rooms will be larger, she said.
“They're all going from roughly 400 square feet to 600 square feet,” she said. “That's important because, as technology has advanced, all of those pieces of equipment take up space. We've got lots of space to move around and to expand into the future as more technologies are introduced.”
Altogether, the project will add about 4,000 square feet to the surgery department, Crowley said.
The updated operating rooms have 46-inch monitors on two sides of the operating table and two 26-inch screens on arms that pull right up to the operating table. Doctors can display diagnostic images, lab results or patient information on the screens and follow them more closely during surgery.
The technology allows multiple applications to be viewed on the multiple computer screens. The two larger screens have the ability to project anything from vital signs to live laparoscopic images.
“There's a lot more information available at your fingertips for the surgeons and the whole team,” Crowley said.
Another plus for patient safety, she said, is a checklist developed in collaboration with the manufacturer.
“There are certain things that need to be done to make sure our patients have the highest quality care,” Crowley said. “Each question on this checklist is projected onto the screens in the rooms before starting surgery. Everyone on the surgical team pauses to go through the checklist to make sure we have the correct patient, surgical site, etc.”
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