Neinstein Plastic Surgery’s New Plastic Surgery Facility for the COVID Era
The COVID 19 was labeled as a Pandemic on 11 March 2020. The clinical spectrum of this disease is known to be very heterogeneous. The centers for disease control prevented elective surgery during the pandemic should be delayed due to lack of infrastructure.
The inevitability of getting back to the operating room along with the uncertainty about the future of virus behavior we reached out to experts far and wide to design an operating room for the future. An operating facility that would give us the best opportunity to keep doing what we love all the while protecting staff and patients from hidden forces.
Starting before surgery we adapted early electronic screening programs. Before a patient comes to the office they are sent screening questionnaires through a secure data portal to their phone. This allows patients to reflect on their symptoms and travel and prevent any spread or exposure well before arriving to the office.
As patients come to the office they are met with a digital temperature check and are prevented from direct exposure by covid shields in the office. Our designer Adam Cassino was able to make these chic!
Our furniture was designed for surface and space so as to not be a reservoir for virus’s and for patients to comfortably sit 6 feet apart.
From here we took charge of cleaning. Literally!
Some disinfectant solutions only cover small areas or float chemicals into the air. But electrostatic sprayers from Victory Innovations create a positive charge that drives your disinfectant solution directly to surfaces and wraps it around all sides for unmatched coverage. We were one of the first medical office in the country to adopt electrostatic spraying devices with chemicals designed not just to be safe for covid but not too caustic on the patients skin.
Besides an emphasis on PPE and more disposable equipment in the operating room we have worked with LG air care solutions to help innovate airflow within the operating room. The main operating room should have more than 25 air exchange cycles per hour. Understanding the airflow within the operation theatre is crucial to minimizing the risk of infection. Operating rooms are usually designed to have positive pressure to prevent intraoperative contamination. Coronavirus is 125 nm in diameter and a high proportion of particles [up to 100%] are captured by high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. We have brought these filters into the outpatient operating room. Not only are we filtering the air but we are cycling it in combined with the aforementioned high-frequency air exchanges to reduce the chance of virus dissemination.
For safety and privacy we have created recovery pods that have their own filtration and air exchange system
Many people have asked me why I am investing so much time energy and resources into something that may be coming to an end. I think back on former president Dwight Eisenhower quote and remember why we do anything.
“Plans Are Worthless, But Planning Is Everything”
Dwight D. Eisenhower