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Goal of New Nursing Floor to Improve Patient Experience

  • February 4, 2011
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Contact:
Jason Merrill
314-286-0302
[email protected]

ST. LOUIS - Patients hospitalized in the new gynecologic oncology unit at the Siteman Cancer Center and Barnes-Jewish Hospital can touch a screen in their rooms and see a photo of their nurse for that day. Touch the screen again, and they can watch a video about how to care for their condition. 

This is just one example of the new technology and safety improvements incorporated into the unit. Relocating from 4400, gyn-oncology moved Nov. 29 to a completely renovated unit on 17300 offering a safer environment for women treated for gynecological surgeries or gyn-oncology. 

To ensure patient status and staffing information is visual to all staff, a new tool called a “ComBo (Collaborative and Overall Management in Business Operations) board” is being used near the nurses’ station. This tool was implemented on the 7200, 71 and 71OU, 84ICU originally. The ComBo board is a 64-inch television screen that displays the unit’s census board. As a visual management tool, it is used for discharge planning – making many paper/pen record-keeping processes obsolete. 

“Staffing assignments are stored on the board, as well as information on patient arrivals,” says Marilyn Russell, RN, BSN, clinical nurse manager. “It also has sections for social work and case management to make sure we are all on the same page as the patient moves toward discharge.” 

The 24-bed unit features two state-of-the-art bariatric rooms with dual patient lifts that enable severely or morbidly obese women to be examined properly and in a safer environment for staff. 

The unit has a more infection-control-friendly environment due to the absence of carpet. Additionally, this unit has a new curtain in semi-private rooms that is much easier for a housekeeper to take down and clean, making the environment safer for the patient. Housekeepers no longer need a step-ladder to reach the hooks of the old curtains that were near the ceiling. 

To ease the stress of being an inpatient, the hospital designed this unit with the overall patient experience in mind. 

“The bathrooms are spa-like,” says Russell. “They are made with beautiful materials and the showers all have seats and movable showerheads to cater to our patients.” 

The art and décor on the unit was chosen by Becki Jacoby, facilities administration project manager and Sarah Colby who runs the Arts + Healthcare program, which is funded by the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation. Colby also installed patient expression boards in each patient room. These magnetic boards encourage the patient to express themselves. 

“Patients can write messages to the staff or use it to communicate with their visitors who come while they are out of the room,” says Colby. 

The unit has patient touch screens that house patient educational information to supplement provider education. Patient touch also integrates with COMPASS and the nurse caring for the patient is able to assign needed education such as anticoagulation teaching. Once the patient views the education, a notice is sent to COMPASS to notify the nurse. The nurse can then go back to the patient and ensure they understand. The patient touch screens also offer concierge information for families and all of the unit’s staff photos are loaded so that a patient can literally see the faces of their care team for the day. 

“To encourage staff development, a conference room allows us to have inservices on our own floor and give presentations, something we did not have on 4400,” says Russell. “We also have access to the pneumatic tube system now, which is a first for us.” 

Each room has a computer in the room, and more computers are located in alcoves than 4400, which means residents have better access to computers. Russell says these computers will help with KBMA implementation later this month and that the entire unit was designed to help staff do their jobs better. 

“The layout of the unit was designed with the nurse in mind,” she says. “Supplies and medicines are all built into the center of the unit. If you can imagine an X in the middle of a rectangle, the supplies and medicines are centrally located – which is a major change from 4400.” 

All supplies are in color-coded bins so that a nurse visiting from another unit can easily find supplies. 

“It’s a much better system because our nurses used to have difficulty finding supplies, so now we can at least search for a particular color,” says Russell. 

In addition to more supply space, the unit also has more private space for families. A consult room allows patient families more private time with the physician to ask questions and encourages a healing environment. 

“Many of our patients hear terrible news on our floor, so this is a great opportunity to give a family some quiet space.” 
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