Dialogue:
Children's new clinical building expansion
Patty Hickey, MS, MBA, RN, vice president of Cardiovascular/Critical Care Services,
and Anne Jenks-Micheli, MS, RN, director of Perioperative and Allied Services
This month Children's Hospital Boston opens the upper floors of Main South. Floors six to 10 include 48 new cardiac and medical/surgical ICU beds, a cardiac catheterization lab, inpatient echocardiography, and medical and surgical patient beds. Floors one to three, opening in August, will include eight operating rooms (ORs), interventional radiology space and two floors of administrative office space.
An extension of the hospital's existing Main Building, Main South will give clinicians access to cutting-edge technology while carving out more room for patients and families.
Why does Children's need Main South?
AJM: The Main Building opened in 1987, and although we've made some major renovations, like the entirely new Stem Cell Transplant Unit, there hasn't been a significant updating of the facility since then. Medicine and surgery—and the space needed to practice them—have changed dramatically in that time. We felt it was time to expand to accommodate the latest technologies, make it easier for clinicians to care for patients, and, since families are spending so much more time at the bedside, give them more space and some amenities to make their stay more comfortable.
What new technologies are going into Main South?
PH: The new ceiling-mounted booms in the ICU rooms and ORs will have the greatest effect on the most patients. The booms in the ICUs are stocked with nearly everything needed for patient care—including surgical lights and small TVs for patients. In addition to getting wires and equipment up off the floors, the booms and beds are in the center of the room so clinicians can have 360-degree access to patients.
The booms in the ORs are very similar in that they allow wires and carts to be taken off the floor. They also supply medical gases and power so everything the surgical team needs is directly at hand.
AJM: Another really exciting technology is the new MR/OR, an operating room fitted with a 15,000-pound mobile magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine that will be brought out from behind doors to take images before, during and after an operation. This mobility is a new feature of the so-called intraoperative MRI units, and allows surgeons to use their usual metal surgical tools instead of those made of non-metallic substances developed for use in other intraoperative units. This is the first equipment of its kind being used in the U.S., and will let surgeons remove brain and other tumors with utmost accuracy.
All of the new ORs are much larger than those in the Main Building, and will better support extensive surgical procedures. They will also have flat panel screens so the surgical team can easily view video endoscopy, radiological tests and physiological monitoring.
The Interventional Radiology program will be moved and expanded, with additional procedure rooms and a four bed recovery area. One procedure room will have built-in Computerized Tomography and fluoroscopy that will allow multifaceted imaging capability. This will further support the advanced care of children with vascular abnormalities who come to us from all over the world.
What types of amenities are included for patients and families?
PH: Those who have been to Children's current ICUs will be surprised by how much larger the new ICU bedspaces are—in fact, every room in Main South is larger, brighter and more colorful than people are used to. There's more space for patient care, but there's also more space for families to live in while their children are in the hospital. In the current ICUs, there are only reclining chairs to rest on, but in the new units there are custom bedspaces and storage built into every room. It's the same way in the new patient rooms on floors 9 and 10, which are all built for single occupants, and include a wardrobe and bed space built into the alcove next to each window.
We've also made a real effort to give patients more to do while they're in the hospital. Each room is fitted with an entertainment center that features a TV, DVD player, video game console, Internet connection for a laptop and a place to hang artwork or get well cards.
AJM: Main South will also house new and expanded space adjacent to the perioperative areas with patient waiting areas and private consultation rooms. There is also a food cart, quiet areas for viewing television or DVDs and Internet access for laptops.
To see more of Main South, visit www.childrenshospital.org/chnews/04-06-05/expansion.html.
