An intelligent operating room of the future – an interview with the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center

Abstract

Based on an interview with the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, which is currently building a new facility to include an intelligent operating room (OR). UCLA’s goals for the intelligent operating room are to lead the development of the latest robotic and computer‐assisted medical and biomedical devices and technology, to have a flexible broad intelligence of space planning, and to have a paperless yet seamless data exchange of patient and doctor information. UCLA’s planning strategy, a multidisciplinary collaborative approach to patient care, is based on a partnership between academic engineers, practicing clinicians, practicing physicians, and manufacturing industry. By creating an intelligent OR, the UCLA Medical Center hopes to improve patient satisfaction, retain and attract the best surgeons, and eventually, through the continued incorporation of image‐guided surgery, be able to decrease surgeon variability.