The operating room: architectural conditions and potential hazards

Ergonomics is still not fully implemented in the design of operation rooms (ORs). The OR staff has to deal with various ergonomic deficiencies which may be associated with potential hazards for the patient and/or the OR team.Three surveys were conducted among German OR staff at major conferences. Two of them dealt with the working conditions in the OR and were conducted among surgeons and OR nurses. The third survey queried OR nurses about the electrical safety in the OR.In addition, a specially developed checklist was used to evaluate the work place OR in five German OR units and the staff of these OR units were queried with questionnaires adapted from the surveys. For this article a few of the deficiencies found in the ORs were chosen to serve as examples for the plethora of results gathered.Findings showed that there was a high potential for ergonomic improvement and therefore an increase in safety and comfort. Many of these deficiencies may be eased by simple means such as the reduction of the number of different devices and mandatory training in the use of the devices since device operation is one of the main causes leading to potential hazards in the OR. Other deficiencies, such as the cable routing in the OR, require more extensive intervention and/or the implementation of new techniques, for example the "wireless" OR. All these deficiencies demonstrate the need for better implementation of ergonomics into the OR and for individual solutions, as there is no such thing as an 'one-size-fits-all' solution for OR units.