How to Establish and Maintain a Functional Operating Room in a Low-Resource Environment

Although surgery and anesthesia are sometimes carried out under a tent or open air, notably near conflict zones, where issues such as electricity, running water, sterilization, and postoperative care may be extremely limited and unmanageable to remedy, this chapter will deal with the assessment, design, and setup of operating rooms in hospital buildings that are permanent structures. At times, the practitioner will have significant input into the physical space and structure of the operating room; often however, the surgeon or anesthesiologist, particularly on short-term missions, will be presented with a clinical environment as a fait accompli, and the task is to assess the resources and adapt to them.