Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~ ~d ~ 15 6 ~
ADK 898-27
A SURGICAL OPERATING ROOM STRUCTURE
This invention relaees to a surgical operating room structure
and, more particularly, to such a structure comprising an operating
5 room, a prep room for preparing a patient for an operation, and a
post-operative room for servicing the patient just subsequent to an
operation .
Previous surgical rooms have required that the patient be
wheeled on a table on wheels from one room to the next, requiring
10 hospital personnel for the transfer and possibly involving delay.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide
a new and improved surgical operating room structure which avoids
one or more of the above-mentioned disadvantages and l~mitations of
prior such structures.
It is another object of the invention to provide a ne-~ and
~mproved surgical operating room structure in which a patient is
transferred automatically from one room to the next.
In accordance with the invention, a surgical operating room
structure comprises a central core and a housing surrounding the
20 core and forming a work space at its interior. The structure also
includes a plurality of generally outwardly extending curtain means
within the housing for dividing the work space into a plurality of
compartments. A plurality of arms are supported by and extend
generally radially outwardly from the core and are movable in
25 circumferential direction thereabout. Each of the arms extends into
the housing and is adapted to support an operating table. The
curtain means each comprise a movable portion adapted to be opened
to permit movement of an arm therethrough from one compar~nent
into the next adjacent compartment and adapted to be closed again
30 subsequent to each such movement, whereby a patient already on
an operating table may enter the structure in a first compartment
where the operating table is supported by the arm in that compart-
ment and the arm supporting the operating table and patient is then
rotated through the curtain means separating the aforesaid first
35 compartment from ~e next adjacent compartment, into the next
adjacent compartment.
2560
-2-
For a better understanding of the present invention, together
with other and ~urther objec~s thereof, reference is made to the
following descripcion, taken in connection with the accompanying
drawings, and its scope will be pointecl OUt in the appended claims.
Referring now to the drawings:
Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a surgical operat-
ing room structure constructed in accordance wil:h the invention;
Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the Fig. 1 surgical operating room
structure;
Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view, partly diagrammatic, and to an
enlarged scale, of a portion of the Fig. 1 structure.
Referring now more particulariy to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the
drawings, a surgical operating room structure 10 in accordance with
the invent~on is represented in fragmentary view. An outer wall,
as represented by broken lines 11, has been removed for clarity
and a ceiling has also been removed for clarity. The structure 10
comprises a central core 12 having longitudinal sections or ring
members 13, 14, 15 supported in a stacked relation in the core, as
will be more fully described subsequently. The housing 30 sur-
rounds the core and forms a work space at its interior. The hous-
ing 30 has, for example, a substantially rectangular cross section.
The surgical operating room structure includes a plurality of
outwardly extending curtain means 16, 17, 18 within the housing
for dividing the work space into a plurality of compartments 31, 32,
33. The central core 12 is adapted to contain all utility connections
required for the various services performed in the various compart-
ments, including temperature control, water supply, oxygen, ster-
ilizing fluid and other utilities required for each room.
A plurality of arms 19, 20, 21 are supported by and extend
generally radially outwardly from the core 12 and are movahle in
circumferential direction thereabout. Each of the arms extends into
the housing and is adapted to support an operating table 22, 23, or
24 .
As more clearly represented in E`ig. 3, the operating room
structure preferably includes drive means 34 for independently
rotating each of the arms 21, 20, 19 in the circumferential direction
consecutively into and out of ad)acent ones of the compartrnents 31,
56~
-3--
32, 33. The drive means 34 includes a plurality of driven ring
members 13, 14, 15 supported in stacked relation in the core and
each of the arms 19, 20, 21, in turn, is connected t~ a respective
one of the ring members 22, 23, 24. The structure also includes
5 control means 35 for the drive means 34 for independently moving
the arms 19, 20, 21 into and out of the adjacent compartrnents.
The control means 35 and the drive means 34 may, for example, be
of conventional electromechanical construction, with the drive means
34 having three drive outputs, represented in broken line con-
10 struction and individually connected to the ring mem~ers 13, 14,15 .
The curtain means 16, 17, 18 each comprise a movable portion
adapted to be opened to permit movement of the arm therethrough
from one compartrnent into the next adjacent compartment ~nd
15 adapted to be closed again subsequent to each such movement. The
work space is divided into at least three compar'anents 31, 32, 33,
one such compartment 31 being a prep room for preparing a patient
for an operation, the next adjacent one 32 of the compartments
being an operating room, and the third compartment 33 being a
20 post-operative room for servicing the patient just subsequent to an
operation. Each curtain means comprises a first lower rubber
curtain portion, for example 16a, and a second upper rubber cur-
tain portion, for example 16b. The rubber curtain portions overlap
in the region of the rotational movement of the arms, whereby an
25 arm, for example arm 19, moving from one compar~nent 32 to the
next adjacent compartment 33 spreads the corresponding curtain
portions apart and they move back into overlapping closed relation
after passage of the respective arm therethrough. Each rubber
curtain portion may, for example, be a one-half inch thick rubber
30 sheet. Each of the arms 19, 20, 21 comprises means for supporLing
an operating table 22, 23, 24 and means for raising and lowering
the elevation of the table with respect to such arm. This means for
raising and lowering the elevation of the table may, for example, be
a suitable jack 35, 36, or 37, mechanically connected, as repre-
35 sented in broken line construction, by any suitable conventionalmechanical means between each table and the corresponding arm.
`2~
--4--
Accordingly, a patient already on an operating table enters the
structure through a door in the first compartment 31 where the
operating table 23 is supported by the arm 21 in that compartment,
and the arm supporting the operating table and the patient is then
S rotated by the drive means through the curtain separating the first
compartment from an adjacent second compartment 32, into the
adjacent second compdrtment.
The operating room structure also preferably comprises ster-
ilizing means in each of the compartments for sterilizing the com-
partments prior to, during, and immediately after entry of an arm
carrying a patient therein. This sterilizing means may, for ex-
ample, be nozzles, such as 38, 39 (Fig. 3) extending from hoses in
the core 12 for flooding the floor of each compartment with an
antiseptic solution irnrnediately prior to, during 3nd/or after each
movement of an arm carrying a patient into that compartment.
The patients are discharged from the post-operative room and
are admitted into the prep room through sliding doors 41, 42 in the
peripheral wall of each of those rooms, as represented in Fig. 2.
As also represented in Fig. 2, doors 43, 44, 45 interconnect the
rooms 31, 32, 33. All of the rooms are located within a structure
which may be, for example, approximately 24 feet in length and of
the same width. For visibility from outside the operating room to
all areas of the operating room, the exterior wall 50 and portions of
the ceiling of the operating room may, for example, be made from
transparent plastic material.
An operating table on wheels may be wheeled into the prep
room 31, and the jack 36 raises the table to any desired height and
supports it at that height. In operation, a ring member 15 moves
the arm 21 and the operating table 23 carried by it from one room
31 and through the rubber-curtain wall 18 into the next adjacent
room 32 of the structure. Thus, a patient is wheeled into the prep
room on an operating table 23 and after the table 23 is positioned
on the arm 21 and jack 37, then in the prep room, and preliminary
work is done to the patient, the arm 21 carrying that operating
table 23 and patient is rotated through the curtain 18, separating
the prep room 31 and the operating room 32, into the operating
room 32 which is adjacent thereto. After the operation, the pati~nt
~2~5~,n
--5 -
is moved into the post-operative room 33, again by rotating the arm
21 through the curtained wall 16 (which closes immediately after the
arm has passed through it) separating the post-operative room 33
from the operating room 32. As represented in Fig. 1, the operat-
5 ing table 22 and the arm 19 are passing betwe~n the curtain por-
tions 16a, 16b during an ea~lier transfer. Furthermore, each room
is made antiseptic by floodin~ the floor of the room w~th an anti-
septic solution imnediately prior to, during and after each movement
of an arm carrying a patient into that room.
If desired, at least a fourth compartment (not shown) having
no arm or operating table therein may be included in the structure
10 around the central core 12 so that an arm and operating table
may be moved into that compartment after an earlier procedure has
been completed in the preceding adjacent compartment. sinc~
15 different phases of the procedure and indeed different procedures
can require longer or shorter periods of time, the three arms 19,
20, 21 may then be moved independently of one another. A control
for movement of the arm in each room may then be adapted to move
an arm out of such room, but preferably, though not necessarily,
only after the next adjacent room has been vacated by the previous
arm and sterilized.
In accordance with this invention, it is possible to maximize
the use of an operating room facility by permitting patients to be
moved into and out of the operating room at a fast rate. It is
contemplated that the structure 10 may be prefabricated and sup-
ported on a raised platform and that all utility connections will
reach the central core 12 from under the platform or from above the
ceiling. It is also possible to vertically stack a plurality of these
structures 10 so that additional operating facilities can be provided
30 in minimum floor space, with a cornmon central core extending
through 211.
The surgical team has access into and out of the various
compartments through doors 43, 44, 45. Sliding doors 41, 42 (~ig.
2) may be provided in the walls of the post-operative room 33 and
the prep room 31 for exit and entry from the prefab unit.
While there have been described what are at present con-
sidered to be ~e prefered embodiments of this invention, it will be
'ifiO
--6-
obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modi-
fications may be made therein without departing from the invention,
and it is, therefore, aimed to cover all such changes and modifica^
tions as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
