Hybrid operating room a 'real piece of progress,' says Halifax surgeon

If a patient suffers a complication during surgery at the QEII hospital in Halifax, Dr. Greg Hirsch has to focus on a new challenge: safely getting them down the hallor to another floor to different departments for tests.

"That's a harrowing journey for the patient. It's a risky journey for the patient," said the cardiac surgeon.

He saidthat journey will soon be prevented with the development of a new hybrid operating room, which will bethe first of its kind in the Atlantic region.

The hybrid OR is double the size of a traditional operating space. It has all types of diagnostic equipment in one spot, so instead of moving the patient, hospital staffmove the machines if a patient suddenly needs open surgery.

"The space allows us to reach Nova Scotians who have major disease in the arteries around their heart and in their belly and problems with valves within their hearts in a less-invasive way with the assurance that we can back that up with an invasive approach," said Hirsch.

It also means those patients who are already in a critical situation can be taken to one place, so they can be tested and treated faster.

Hybrid ORs are already proving to be successful elsewhere, said Hirsch. Traditionally, the different specialties worked in silos, treating patients for the condition that falls under their umbrella.

"[The hybrid OR]allows us to put teams of doctors around the patient with all the right equipment, which is a real piece of progress for us," he said.

Hybrid OR will attract specialists, says Hirsch

Hirsch said the benefit won't just be for the patients. He saidnew specialists want to train inhybrid environments.

"We can attract and retain and train the very best cutting-edge clinicians for our Nova Scotia population," he said.

Hirsch is co-chair of the Maritime Heart Centre development council, which pushedto build the hybrid OR.

$4M cost

Now that it's been given the green light, it will be named after Stewart Allen, a Torontonian who used to be the president of Sparkling Spring Water inTruro, N.S.Hedonated $1 million to the QEII Foundation to help with the project,which helped the foundation raise the $4 million needed for the equipment in just one year.

"We know it's going to be better for patients," said Bill Bean, foundation CEO.

"It's better for the system. It speeds the recovery period up, so we know that this is going to have a tremendous impact on people and our donors respond to that right away."

With the funding now in place andplanning underway, the hope is that construction on the new hybrid OR will be complete by the fall of 2020.