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New Tulsa ASC offers more than meets the "I"

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, September 23, 2004

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Oklahoma physicians working at the brand-new Natalie Ambulatory Surgery Center in Tulsa, OK may be forgiven for feeling a bit like Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy from "Star Trek" in the days to come. That's because the striking technological advances at the facility, which opened September 15, bear more than a passing resemblance to the science fiction that generations have grown up with.

According to a report published in the Oklahoma newspaper the Tulsa World, the Natalie Building at St. Frances Hospital will be Tulsa's first medical facility with "I-Suites,"  operating rooms programmed with special computerized features that respond to a surgeon's voice. Simply by speaking, doctors can be assisted in a number of tasks, previously done by nurses, by a computer system nicknamed "Sidne."

By making use of headsets, doctors can command Sidne to take and print photos of procedures, turn on lights, and call up digital X-rays and MRIs on computer screens so the doctor can look them over without ever having to step away from the sterile patent area. Sidne can automatically dial a phone number recited by the doctor, get a consulting physician on the phone and can record a surgeon's dictation onto compact disc. During laproscopic procedures, Sidne can even inflate the patient's belly for the easy insertion of a camera and surgical tools.

"This facility was really set up for efficiency," Gay Sammons, clinical manager for the Natalie Ambulatory Surgical Center, told the Tulsa World about the I-Suites system. "Now a nurse can do what she's trained to do in school instead of turning drills up and down."

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