Here at Meditek, we pride ourselves on being an innovative, forward-thinking company. Our surgical equipment experts are knowledgeable about the needs of ORs and can help create a harmonious flow in the operating room.

The operating room ceiling system is one of the most important (and expensive) pieces of real estate in your facility. We also know that understanding the main differences between each operating room ceiling system option on the market today can be complicated.

Operating room ceiling system considerations

All modern operating rooms are primarily required to keep up with air distribution and maintaining a sterile surgical environment. They also need to coordinate complex ceiling-mounted medical equipment such as booms, arms, imaging rails, task lighting, gas columns, etc. Needless to say, there is an ever-increasing demand for the ceiling space within operating rooms to cover many functions and needs.

There are definitely functional differences and varying levels of technology innovations between each operating room ceiling system that could prove to be game changers in your purchasing decision.

Coordination of an operating room ceiling system can often prove challenging, and it’s important to consider the estimated time for construction completion. We know it’s paramount to get back to the full use of your operating room as soon as possible. Many ceiling system construction projects can take months, if not years to be completed – while others only take hours.

In this article, we will cover four main operating room ceiling system suppliers with factual and public information. Whether you are the architect, general contractor or healthcare executive responsible for choosing the best operating ceiling system for your facility, we pride ourselves on being transparent about the options available to you.

Please note there could be other OR ceiling systems not listed in this article.

Price Industries

Since 1949, Price Industries has remained a privately held family company with their head office located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They specialize in supplying air distribution, critical controls and noise control products. They currently operate four plants and three distribution systems in Atlanta, Phoenix and Winnipeg.

Price Industries offers Ultrasuite®, an operating room diffuser system with integrated LED lighting. This system allows both lighting and airflow to be located directly above the operating table.

Ultrasuite® is an add-on to Price’s Hospital Grade Welded Ceiling System (HGWC), a heavy-duty, extruded aluminum ceiling suspension system designed to integrate with ceiling level support strut and support diffusers, in-fill panels and light fixtures – which helps to reduce the need for drywall framing. 

Price also offers the Hospital Grade Laminar Flow Common Plenum (HGPL), which is similar to the HGWC but is designed to reduce space and ductwork requirements.

Installation of the Ultrasuite® systems relies on ceiling-level structural support strut and equipment support rails. Identifying the location of these support structures is the critical first step. The team at Price provides an engineered submittal package that includes the layout, dimensions and calculations for proper compliance.

AJ Manufacturing

Founded in the mid-1920s, AJ Manufacturing specializes in the HVAC industry, particularly in the production of custom commercial supply grilles, return grilles, registers and diffusers. Located in Kansas City, Missouri, AJ Manufacturing’s products are featured in hospitals, labs and commercial buildings.

AJ Manufacturing offers the SS-CARES, a modular, customizable structural air distribution and lighting solution specifically engineered to provide clean air and high-quality lighting. This system makes use of limited ceiling space, featuring a low-profile common plenum with any number and configuration of laminar flow diffusers, with or without gel seal HEPA filters, to meet air filtration needs.

With the SS-CARES, powerful LED lights can be built into each diffuser, eliminating the need for traditional hanging lights and freeing up additional ceiling space for other equipment. Green lights can be included on the same board – requiring half the number of drivers, less wiring and less time during installation.

Installing the SS-CARES requires stamped structural calculations, which AJ Manufacturing provides with each system configuration.

STERIS

Founded in 1985 as Innovative Medical Technologies, the company was rebranded as STERIS in 1987. STERIS is a global provider of products and services that support patient care with an emphasis on infection prevention. They have approximately 16,000 associates worldwide and operate in more than 100 countries.

STERIS offers the CLEANSUITE^® ceiling system, which features a single large-diffuser system that delivers gapless laminar airflow to minimize turbulence and provide unidirectional flow. Airborne particles and contaminants are directed away from the patient and operating room staff while the diffuser also ensures the air in the room is HEPA-filtered.

STERIS CLEANSUITE^® enables precise placement of ceiling-mounted surgical equipment, including lights, booms, monitors and c-arms. The system has grid modularity, which makes moving or adding equipment easy.

CLEANSUITE’s^® internal and external truss systems are compatible with all ceiling-mounted equipment – not just equipment manufactured by STERIS. Its structural steel frame offers simplified connections that eliminate the need for any on-site welding.

SLD Technology, Inc.

SLD Technology was founded by Kevin Schreiber in 2015, a leading expert in the application of modular cleanroom ceiling system principles and products to critical healthcare environments. Before he founded SLD, Kevin was one of the main innovators for the first-generation launch of operating room cleaning technology. SLD’s mission is to use innovative technology to eliminate healthcare harm, reduce site infections in patients and increase safety for all operating room staff.

SLD Technology offers the AirFRAME, a fully-integrated modular, prefabricated ceiling system with a single large diffuser. This ceiling system combines the structural mounts, air diffusion and lighting requirements of an operating room into a single system, creating a holistic approach towards operating room design.

AirFRAME protects patients and staff with Zonal Pressure Control®, which is unidirectional downward airflow clinically shown to reduce the potential for contamination at the surgical site.

SLD also offers a solution called the LEDiffuser, an easy-install, lightweight solution for air distribution and high-quality lighting. It’s wire-hung in minutes and provides sterile air and additional lighting over the back table in imaging rooms and operating rooms. The LEDiffuser is powered by Philips Fortimo LED Strip modules, which have a high energy efficacy and exceptional lumen maintenance.

Indigo-Clean is a high-performance enhancement option that can be added to the lighting component of the AirFRAME, which is the only product of its kind to be integrated into a ceiling system. Indigo-Clean is a brand-new way to decontaminate a space using the power of light. The frequencies generated can kill viruses and bacteria without being harmful to humans, meaning the operating room staff can still be in the room while it’s on. Operating rooms that keep Indigo-Clean on 24-7 have seen infections reduced by around 73% as a result.

AirFRAME has a complete modular infrastructure and requires as few as one connection point for the integrated lighting, one connection point for the supply air, and a couple threaded drops per module. This is rarely seen with common “stick cell” type ceiling systems and saves valuable space and time. The low profile and minimal field connections allow ample room for existing ductwork and utilities to remain in place.

Unlike other ceiling systems that involve a lot of labour and site coordination, AirFRAME’s installation times are measured in hours instead of days. A ceiling system for a general operating room can be installed with a small crew in as little as three hours.

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What are the main differences?

Meditek is a Canadian distributor for SLD Technology Ceiling Systems. We will coordinate directly with SLD Technology to install AirFRAME ceiling systems at major Canadian hospitals and smaller surgical centres.

Our experts are knowledgeable when it comes to prefabricated operating room ceilings, modular operating room ceilings and operation theatre ceiling materials. We’ve been involved with operating room ceiling system installations within general and complex hybrid ORs across Canada. We do everything from conceptualizing to planning to equipment supply and installation.

Send us your questions, and our operating room ceiling system experts will be happy to help guide you through the process.

For more insights from Meditek on surgical equipment and operating room workflow management, visit our blog or browse our products.