Sacred Heart opens final phase of Surgery Center
Spokane, WA - Sacred Heart Medical Center’s Surgery Center expansion project is now complete, with the opening of the new Pre-Surgical Screening and Surgery Admit units.
Creating a new, state-of-the-art surgery facility with more space and technology for surgeons—and a patient-friendly setting—required a significant amount of planning in order to keep all services open while construction was underway. The result was a three-phase construction plan: phase one was the main operating room project which opened a year ago. Phase two included a new Post-anesthesia Care Unit (recovery) and Pediatric Surgery Center in the space formerly occupied by the operating rooms.
The final phase of the Surgery Center’s expansion was to move the Pre-Surgical Screening and Surgery Admit units closer to the other new surgery services, making the process easier on patients and their families. During the months of construction, patients checked in on one floor, proceeded to a different floor in a different tower for screening procedures and went to separate location for the actual surgery, while their families wait in yet another area.
Physicians and staff are enjoying perks of the renovation as well. Not only do the new Pre-surgical Screening and Surgery Admit units have more space, wider hallways and improved work areas, but they also sport the latest in innovative technology. A new computer feature the Surgery Center is using is the Operating Room Status Board, an electronic chart that shows where each patient is in the surgery process. With LCD screens embedded directly into the walls in various areas of the Surgery Center, nurses and physicians alike can—with the touch of a finger—see whether their patients have been moved into or out of an operating room or recovery area. While patients’ names are included on this “e-chart,” their physicians’ names and procedure details are not listed, to protect the patients’ confidential information. The screens are located in staff areas only, so no visitors or family members may view patients’ names.
“When we opened our Surgery Center last August, we were truly setting the pace for other operating rooms across the country,” says Marilyn Bash, director of Perioperative Services. “As we finished the final phases of the remodel, we continued to find and implement the technology that keeps us at the forefront of excellence in surgical care.”
The “ORSB” (electronic operating room status board) is evidence of that. It is one way the hospital has shown its commitment to making the surgical process easier for surgeons and patients alike. And when a hospital is running 30 operating rooms and eight minor procedure rooms—treating an average of 95 patients each day—that is a crucial part of delivering excellent care. As the new processes are refined, patients will experience shorter waiting times before surgery and staff can prepare rooms for the next patients more quickly.
It doesn’t stop there, however. Thanks to ORSB’s sister, HASB (the hospital activity status board), processes throughout the entire patient tower have been streamlined and can be tracked at every nurses’ station. Patients being admitted from the Emergency Department or Surgery Center can be moved to the nursing floors sooner, as staff in various areas can check the activity levels and determine appropriate locations for patients to go to for further care.
These programs are part of the Medical Center’s Performance Improvement priorities and are responsible, in part, to the major increase in patient satisfaction scores that have occurred this year.
For further details, please call (509) 474-3081.
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