To meet the growth in the number of patients seeking surgery, Cooper University Health Care has opened four new operating rooms since May, increasing its total number of operating rooms to twenty-three. The newest three state-of-the-art operating rooms opened last week.
Cooper University Health Care was one of the few health systems in the region to see an increase in outpatient and inpatient growth over the last few years. Last year, there were more than 1.4 million patient visits to Cooper facilities. The number of surgeries handled by Cooper University Health Care surgeons has grown from 14,737 procedures in 2011 to 17,823 in 2015, an increase of more than 20 percent.
“We are grateful that growing numbers of people continue to place their trust in Cooper University Health Care,” said Stephanie D. Conners, MBA, BSN, NEA-BC, Senior Executive Vice President and Hospital Chief Operating Officer and System Chief Nursing Officer of Cooper University Health Care. “The new state-of-the-art operating rooms will allow us to accommodate more people and procedures and continue to provide the safe, high-quality surgical care that our patients have come to expect.”
Two of the new operating rooms are specifically designed for robotic surgery, with full integration of the computers and robotics into the architecture and design of the operating rooms. The operating rooms will allow Cooper surgeons to perform the most advanced types of surgery.
“Our surgeons are very busy and we are seeing an increase in all types of surgery,” said Jeffrey P. Carpenter, MD, Chief of Cooper University Health Care’s Surgical Services Institute. “The new operating rooms, particularly the rooms designed for robotic surgery with fully integrated computers, will allow us to provide the most advanced and highest quality surgical procedures for more of our patients.”
An additional operating room is slated to open in December of this year.