Effect of the Built Operating Room Environment on Patient Outcome

Anxiety prior to surgery is an expected emotion. Research has not been conducted on methods to reduce anxiety in the operating room itself. STERIS Corporation has developed an automated surgical suite environmental system, called SignatureSuite™, that controls the level of lighting, images on OR monitors, and ambient background audio via preset, computerized automation for use before and after anesthesia. This study aims to determine if this new type of operating room environment decreases anxiety, as measured by patient responses on anxiety visual analog scales, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and postoperative analgesic use. The proposed study will be a two-arm, randomized controlled trial comparing anxiety levels for patients that have thyroid or parathyroid surgery in the SignatureSuite room at Cleveland Clinic Marymount Hospital versus the standard operating room environment. Randomization will occur at the surgeon level. There will be a maximum 100 patients divided equally between the experimental and control arms of the study.