On 24 and 25 August, Balgrist University Hospital celebrated the opening of its tenth operating room (Operating Room X, in short: OR-X). Over 250 invited guests took the opportunity to visit the room with its modern technical equipment and listen to the speeches from Rita Fuhrer, President of the Balgrist Association, Mazda Farshad and Thomas Huggler, the Hospital Directors, Martin Hirzel, President of Swissmem, and Philipp Fürnstahl, one of the OR-X co-founders.
Yet the new OR-X will never see patients. It is a national research infrastructure and the surgical teaching and research center at Balgrist University Hospital. It combines a realistic infrastructure with the latest technology and is accessible to national and international experts. The heart of OR-X is a fully-equipped operating room that was designed for the surgical research and training of tomorrow. It’s a place where new technologies are developed, experienced surgeons receive further training and future surgeons are trained.
The X not only stands for the number 10, but also the great potential that this digitalized research infrastructure offers. Teaching is performed without any direct contact to patients and using 3D-printed models, simulators and human preparations. The direct integration into a clinic and the connection to the existing research environment is unique. The technical highlights include intraoperative artificial intelligence (AI), navigation systems, operating robots and applications supported by augmented reality (AR).
With its six surgical workstations, the Skills Lab provides the perfect conditions for conducting training and larger research experiments with several participants.