Sizing Surgical Operating Rooms

Traditionally, surgery suites were designed with standard operating rooms (ORs)
typically sized at about 400 net square feet with a sub sterile room between
each pair of ORs and a set of scrub sinks at the entrance to each OR. With the advent of robotics, image-guided surgery, and new hybrid operating rooms for many
cardiovascular, orthopedic, and neurological procedures often with large surgical
teams the sizing of procedure rooms in the surgery suite has become a lot more
complicated .

Originally printed in the

SpaceMed Newsletter
Winter 2014
www.spacemed.com

Hybrid operating rooms support intraoperative imaging for a variety of surgical procedures and highly specialized, proprietary imaging systems may be permanently
integrated into the operating room. Intraoperative computed tomography (CT),
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and vascular imaging technologies are commonly used today. In some hybrid operating rooms, the imaging equipment actually
slides into and out of the surgical field via floor or ceiling assemblies. In some cases, this may require a separate, contiguous room for the imaging unit. Contiguous
control rooms and equipment rooms for the imaging components and gear are also
needed all of which must be considered when determining the overall size of the
procedure area. In general, intraoperative imaging equipment should to be sized
based on the vendors requirements for the specific equipment, control room, and
related equipment components and gear.

Type of Surgical
Procedure Room

Minimum Clear Minimum Room

Floor Area
Dimension
(Net Square Feet)
(Feet)

Comments

Operating Room
(General)

400 NSF

20 Feet

Minimum clear floor area of 360 NSF and

minimum clear dimension of 18 feet
allowed for renovation work.

Operating Room
(Specialty and/or Image-Guided
Surgery)

600 NSF

20 Feet

Minimum clear floor area of 500 NSF and

minimum clear dimension of 20 feet
allowed for renovation work.

Hybrid Operating Room

650 NSF

24 Feet

Minimum clear floor area of 600 NSF and

minimum clear dimension of 22 feet
allowed for renovation work.

120 NSF

Varies

Should be physically separated from the

hybrid operating room with walls and a
door and windows to allow full view of the
patient and the surgical team.

Varies

Should be physically separated from the

hybrid operating room with walls and a
door; size will vary depending on specific
equipment and vendor.

Control Room

(including fixed
work surfaces)

Imaging Equipment Room

150 NSF
(vendor specific)

Source: Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals and Outpatient Facilities, The Facility Guidelines
Institute, 2014 Edition.

2014.7.1

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