Sextant Foundation, in collaboration with the Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) and the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI), sponsored a 2-day workshop at the AORN Global Surgical Conference & Expo in San Antonio, Texas, in April 2023. One hundred participants attended the workshop. Through a human-centered design and Lean improvement–infused process, they developed 10 innovative prototypes to address key challenges identified by participating perioperative clinicians.
Creating a safe surgical environment is the goal of construction and renovation projects. The surgical environment is entering a new phase of design with the addition of smart technologies to augment the clinicians’ practice and mitigate risks from human error. The use of robotics, artificial intelligence, drones, and smart carts were ideas that this think tank of clinicians, architects, health care design specialists, and surgical vendors identified as possible solutions to real challenges in perioperative departments across the country.
This white paper summarizes the discussion at the workshop and the solutions that were presented, which require further research and development.