The Integrated Operating Rooms (iOR) are a family of surgical suites designed to create the optimal operating environment for the surgeon, staff, and most importantly, the patient. This specially designed operating suite usually used for cross-specialty minimally invasive surgery. This new style of surgical suite was an instant success because of its positive impact on efficiency and ergonomics in the operating room.

iOR, when optimally designed, can lessen the complexity of the most complicated environment in the hospital—the surgery suite. User-friendly, integrated technologies augment surgeons’ skills and help the entire surgical team work more safely and efficiently. The development and growth of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has spurred the creation of iORs. Today, more than half the surgery cases are performed with minimally invasive techniques.

MIS requires only small incisions through which slender surgical steel tubes are inserted to route surgical instruments, cameras, aspiration tubes, lights, and air-management devices to the anatomy. A high-quality, magnified video, projected on a flat-screen monitor, gives the surgeon an optimal view of the surgical field. The small incisions mean less pain, faster healing, and shorter hospital stays—or no hospital stay at all. As MIS continues to grow and robotic surgery and telemedicine become more common, iORs hence become an industry standard.