Operating Suite

the section of a hospital where surgery is performed, consisting of operating rooms and auxiliary premises.

The operating suite must be isolated from other sections of the hospital, and it must have sufficient space, natural and artificial light, heat, ventilation, and cleaning and scrubbing facilities. The operating room is specially equipped with such apparatus as an operating table, anesthesia machine, instrument tables, and a suction device. Heart surgery and organ transplants require the most complex equipment, for example, a blood-circulating apparatus and an artificial kidney. The auxiliary premises include a preoperative room, where surgeons and nurses scrub before operations; a room for sterilizing instruments; and storage rooms for sutures, bandages, linens, and the principal instruments. In large hospitals, the operating suite is also equipped with a room for blood transfusions and intravenous procedures, a dressing room, a lounge, a toilet, and a shower. Dressing wards, for applying dressings and for treatment and diagnostic procedures, are located within the surgical department of the hospital.

V. R. BELKIN