Hospital Uses New Digital Operating Rooms

December 8, 2007

By VICKI BERRY
C-T LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Person Memorial Hospital began utilizing four new digital operating rooms on Nov. 19.

These rooms were built as part of the hospital’s multiphase renovation and addition project. Digital operating rooms utilize a digital access system that offers surgeons immediate access to comprehensive patient data including digital images, medical records and vital statistics.

This date is displayed on a flat screen monitor. “Digitizing our medical practices allows us to provide the best quality care and treatment to our patients,” said Dr. Peter Gilmer, orthopedic surgeon Triangle Orthopedic Associates. Prior to the opening of the digital operating rooms, surgeons and staff had to sidestep tangled webs of electrical cords and maneuver between surgical carts crowded with equipment.

Each operating room was designed for specific types of surgery cases. The digital operating rooms will eliminate these specialized rooms, as each advanced operating room will have the latest lighting and video imaging. Jumbled networks of cables are housed within ceiling mounted booms that can be pushed into position or pulled out of the way.

All suites are uniformly equipped, which facilitates operating room scheduling and patient flow. “These large, well-ventilated rooms and new technologies will provide even greater safety for my patients and staff,” said Dr. George Aitken, orthopedic surgeon at Duke Orthopedics of Person County. “Our new Ors will offer top-quality perioperative case in an ultramodern local facility that still retains PMH’s hallmark personal touch.”

Reprinted with permission from
The Courier=Times