Imagine what it would be like if the technology used in your business or industry kept improving by the day, requiring a continuous heavy outlay of capital to provide the best product or service. If you can imagine it, welcome to my world.
America is, by far, the place where the most advanced health care in the world is practiced. New, innovative treatments and procedures using the highest, most advanced technologies are made available to patients every day.
This fusion of advanced clinical care and high technology is costly. As providers, however, the desire to deliver the absolute best treatment for patients resides in our very DNA.
This is why the Akron General Health System recently invested more than $2 million to make available our area’s first “hybrid” operating room. This new type of OR will offer patients access to the latest cardiovascular surgical and minimally invasive interventional procedures.
Advanced care
Patients will benefit from the OR’s flexibility, as it accommodates both surgical and endovascular procedures, which can sometimes be performed simultaneously, thus reducing patient OR time.
The hybrid OR’s advanced imaging capabilities also allow for real-time images to be integrated with pre-surgical computed tomography scans while at the operating table.
Additionally, as a fully functional OR, surgeons are able to immediately adapt from an endovascular to an open procedure, should the need arise.
A hybrid operating room combines the sophisticated imaging systems of a catheter-based interventional lab with the sterility standards and specialized equipment of a traditional operating room. This unique technology combination creates a highly efficient, optimal environment for the patient.
Improving outcomes
As Americans get older and chronic illness, such as heart disease and diabetes, rises among this population, the need for services provided in the hybrid OR will increase. The range of procedures that are able to be performed in the hybrid OR include stent graft placement to repair aneurysms in the chest and abdomen and treatment for blocked arteries, especially in the legs. At Akron General, plans are in place to ultimately offer patients the latest, most innovative heart procedures, such as catheter-based heart valve repair and implantation.
Akron General’s commitment to clinical innovation and patient safety is central to its major capital investment in this new hybrid OR
Having the best physicians and nurses utilizing the most advanced technology to improve and extend life remains the very essence of health care in America today. Despite the financial challenges accompanying technological innovation, our pledge is to continue to find ways to stay current with evolving high technology to ensure superb patient care and enhanced safety as part of our mission and commitment to the community.
