Add a Theatre

Add an Operating Theatre

This page explains how to set up a new Operating Theatre so it can be used on the Send Patient to Theatre screen (Inward → Admissions → Send to Theatre).

How Theatres Work in HMIS

There is no separate "Theatre" entity. A theatre is built from two existing configuration objects:

1. Department — a Department record whose Department Type is set to Theatre. This marks it as an operating theatre department.
2. Theatre Room (Room Fee) — a RoomFacilityCharge record ("Room Fee") linked to that Theatre department. This is what actually appears in the Theatre Room field when sending a patient to theatre — the system looks up all non-retired Room Fees whose Department is of type Theatre.

So creating a theatre is a two-step process: create the Theatre department, then add one or more Room Fees under it.

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Step 1 — Create the Theatre Department

Menu: Administration → Manage Institutions → Manage Departments (Own) (or Manage Departments (All) if you need to add a theatre for another institution)

1. Log in and go to Administration (top menu) → Manage Institutions.
2. On the Manage Institutions page, click Manage Departments (Own).
3. Click Add New.
4. Fill in the Basic Details tab:
   • Name — e.g. Main Operating Theatre
   • Code — optional short code, e.g. OT1
   • Department Type — select Theatre from the dropdown. This is the field that makes the department usable as a theatre.
   • Institution — select the hospital/institution this theatre belongs to.
   • Site — optional, if your institution uses multiple sites.
5. Click Save.

A dedicated single-purpose "Manage Theatre" screen also exists in the codebase (theatre.xhtml) which pre-fills Department Type as Theatre automatically, but it currently has no menu link and must be opened by direct URL. Using the standard Manage Departments page above (Step 1) is the supported path and lets you also set Institution/Site, so it's the recommended way.

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Step 2 — Add Theatre Rooms (Room Fees) Under the Theatre Department

Menu: Administration → Manage Inpatient Services → Rooms tab → Room Fees

1. Go to Administration (top menu) → Manage Inpatient Services.
2. In the Rooms tab, click Room Fees.
3. Click Add to open a new Room Fee.
4. Fill in the fields:
   • Name — e.g. Operating Theatre 1
   • Department — search for and select the Theatre department you created in Step 1 (e.g. Main Operating Theatre). This is the field that links the room fee to a theatre.
   • Room / Room Category — optional, only needed if you also track this as a physical room/bed.
   • Charges — set Room Charge, Nursing Charge, MO Charge, Administration Charge, Medical Care Charge, Maintenance Charge, Linen Charge as applicable, plus the fee-calculation block duration (hours) and overshoot hours.
5. Click Save.

Repeat Step 2 to add as many theatre rooms as you need (e.g. Operating Theatre 1, Operating Theatre 2, ...).

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Step 3 — Verify on the Send to Theatre Page

1. Open an admitted patient's profile and navigate to Send to Theatre.
2. In the Theatre Room field, type the name of the theatre room you just created — it should appear in the suggestions list.

Note: As of this writing, the Theatre Room field is an autocomplete (type-to-search). An enhancement to change it to a plain dropdown listing all theatre rooms for the logged-in institution is tracked in hmis#22207.

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Quick Reference

Step	Menu Path	Page
Create Theatre Department	Administration → Manage Institutions → Manage Departments (Own)	/admin/institutions/department_management.xhtml
Add Theatre Room (Room Fee)	Administration → Manage Inpatient Services → Rooms → Room Fees	/inward/inward_room_facility.xhtml
Use the Theatre	Inward → Admissions → (select patient) → Send to Theatre	/inward/inward_send_to_theatre.xhtml

Related Articles

• Admin — Room Categories, Rooms, and Room Fees — general room/room-fee configuration hierarchy
• Add New Institution