This chapter summarizes important considerations to be addressed while designing a cardiothoracic surgical facility. It begins with suggestions for optimal design of the overall surgical suite and continues with design recommendations for specific operating rooms.Healthcare facilities are complex to design. Surgical suites and operating rooms challenge designers to improve patient safety, infection control, and clinical throughput while accommodating future changes. Successful evidence-based project design and construction requires a highly integrated process in which multiple participants must merge their diverse perspectives, languages, and cultures in order to create an environment that supports complex processes. Input from anesthesiologists, surgeons, nurses, support staff, and patients is important. The design of a new or renovated surgical suite is best approached as a catalyst to improve current processes. Innovative approaches successfully used elsewhere should also be encouraged. Redesign of clinical process that eliminates waste or removes redundant steps will directly affect design decisions.
