Talk:Operating theater

Medicine Stub‑class

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Medicine, which recommends that medicine-related articles follow the Manual of Style for medicine-related articles and that biomedical information in any article use high-quality medical sources. Please visit the project page for details or ask questions at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Medicine.MedicineWikipedia:WikiProject MedicineTemplate:WikiProject Medicinemedicine articles Stub This article has been rated as Stub-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

I really want to see this page be a bit more detailed. I work in an OT, and I know that others who come here also work in OT's. I think that we could work together and make this page encompass many facets of a modern OT. Qpeedore 16:48, 24 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the above comment. I think the Surgery article is also deficient in a similar respect. H Padleckas 03:48, 29 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Do people in america use the term operating "theater" much? Joeyramoney 00:21, 27 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I live in the U.S. and have experience with hospitals, and I had never heard it called an operating theatre before this article. If it is sometimes called an operating room in the U.K. and other English speaking areas/countries, perhaps operating room would be a more widespread term. Also, calling it an "operating room" would avoid the difference in spelling (theatre vs. theater). -- Kjkolb 17:16, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

For US vs Brit spelling or lexical differences, it has long been standard on Wikipedia to either consider the subject matter (e.g. an article on US Presidents in American English and one on British Monarchs in British english) or where there is no obvious allignment (as in this case) continue with the style in which the article was created and have redirects where there are different words used in different English speaking countries. What you have a fair point about is that if there is a choice of usual words in one dialect, then to use the one that is more internationally recognised. However, while "operating room" would be understood in the UK, it is less specific and could apply to a room which is being used for an operation (where it is not usually) or in a non medical context where anything is "operated" such as power plant. In the UK "Operating Theatre" is imediately understood to mean a purpose equipped permanent medical facility and is used far more widely in this context. Dainamo 00:07, 25 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I am aware of procedure, but thanks anyway. :-) It has also been standard to compromise, even when the results are less than perfect. For example, instead of aeroplane or airplane, the article is called fixed-wing aircraft. Also, the usage in other English speaking countries should be considered, such as in Canada and Australia. Operating room seems to be used in Canada, given the name of the Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada. "Operating room" gets 125,000 search results in Google for Canadian domains (.ca), versus 816 for "operating theatre". There is also the Australian College of Operating Room Nurses. The same search gets 36,500 versus 108,000 results. So operating room apparently dominates in Canada, but should be widely understood in Australia. A U.K. search gets 44,000 versus 185,000 results and all of the operating room results were for the medical term on the first several pages, so it should be understood there as well. Therefore, I think that operating room is a good compromise. -- Kjkolb 04:41, 25 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have no objection to it being operating room or theatre providing redirects get you there (I had always assumed it was an operating theater in North America). Perhaps some surgeons called it a theatre out of some ego-trip on performance ;). Interesting a friend of mine was a theatre technician in an RAF hospital, in the U.S. I guess they would think he operated curtains and spotlights! Dainamo 02:02, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A quick check of sites indicates that there are references to "Operating theaters" on U.S. sights so it may have usage you are unaware of Dainamo 02:10, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Clearly, there are two articles here. In the US, and Operating room (OR) is the place in a modern hospital where surgeries are performed; it is also called surgery center, and in the UK is an Operating theatre. A second artice would the the one that is here, the historical place where 19 century surgeons performed surgery before an audience, like the Ether Dome. AstroNomer (talk) 13:24, 19 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]