The Operating Room Conundrum

The hospital where I deliver has had a recent upgrade and we now have a dedicated operating room in our labor and delivery suite, directly across from our newborn nursery. This should be wonderful on many levels. We now meet the state requirements (we had a waiver of this requirement for 10 years); we now should not be doing surgery in an area where sick and infected people are being operated on; we now should not have to travel from the first floor front to the second floor back with a patient in heaven knows what awkward position in order to deliver her infant by cesarean section; we now have nursery and infant care/resuscitation equipment readily available without a trek through the halls and the potential of being stuck in an elevator with a sick new born (yes, this really happened)! Except for a pissing contest between two departments this would be true. OB did get a beautiful operating room in the recent remodel. It is directly across the hall from the newborn nursery. The issue is that we are not allowed to use it! There was inadequate training of the OB nurses for their roll in the OR. There was reluctance from the OR staff in opening an operating room out of the main OR area. There were kinks to iron out pertaining to personnel and patients all of which take time, communication, and problem solving. We used the new OR for about 6 months and then it was arbitrarily closed down because of politics. I am frustrated and angry because no one is being well served in this little fit of temper. The OB patients are now being processed in day surgery and operated on the in main OR in a room that is too small, and that is inadequately set up without appropriate oxygen connections. The patients are moved through the main hospital halls from the operating room to the OB unit. The babies are transported through the main hospital halls from the operating room to the OB unit. This transportation is not only cumbersome, it is unnecessary. There is a functional operating room right in the Labor and Delivery Unit. What we need is responsibility, accountability, and communication in order to safely and successfully use the OR located in labor and delivery for operative delivery of obstetric patients.