Phase II of the ongoing Level 1 Trauma Center OR Upgrade project included the relocation and expansion of the Central Sterile Processing unit, where faculty sterilize and prepare medical devices and various equipment and organize trays and carts for ORs. Without a well-organized, efficient processing unit and access to the required instrumentation, scheduled surgeries are compromised as staff look for the correct tools. In its new location across from the new Surgical Suite, the Central Sterile Processing unit has direct access to the new ORs, facilitating the use of case carts to provide quick access of supplies and instrumentation.

The 8,000 SF unit holds specialty and emergency carts, anesthesia supplies, and automated mediation and supply dispensing units, and includes a work area for staff. The unit features a designated corridor for staff to return soiled case carts – Clean Cart Staging (CSP) – that also lets faculty quickly transfer carts to the OR suite and other locations on various floors. The CSP has tray pass-through door for staff to pick up other clean supplies that are not on case carts.

The project is part of the overall goal of renovating Ben Taub’s Level 1 Trauma Center Operating Rooms. The project included the addition of seven new operating rooms, including two hybrid rooms and a new Post-Anesthesia Care Unit.