She had worked the weekend. She spent her Monday morning moving equipment. But St. Tammany Health System Sterile Processing Director Michelle Milner couldn’t help but smile.
After years of operating in cramped quarters and weeks of planning, the Sterile Processing Department – which is tasked with cleaning and preparing surgical instruments ahead of scheduled procedures at the health system’s flagship St. Tammany Parish Hospital – moved into shiny new digs Monday morning (Jan. 23).
“We are live,” Milner said while showing off her department’s new digs. “We just say, ‘Thank you.’”
In addition to more than tripling the size of the central workspace for the 18-person team, the move enhances its capabilities, thanks to the addition of new equipment, as well as providing room for a more efficient workflow.
Previously, the department’s decontamination room measured 290 square feet. Now, it’s 1,100. Its old assembly room measured 570 square feet. Today, it’s 1,620.
First and foremost, that will help maintain the high-quality patient care upon which STHS prides itself. But it also improves quality-of-life for Sterile Processing staff.
“We’ve never had locker rooms before. Never had a break room before,” Milner said.
The list of other improvements undertaken as part of the $2.4 million project is a long one.
In the old space, which had been in use since around 2000, Sterile Processing had five work stations to prepare instruments. Now, there are 10.
Previously, they had five instrument sterilizers. Now, they have nine.
Previously, they had one sink and one ultrasonic cleaner. Now, they have four sinks and five ultrasonic cleaners.
The difference, Milner said, is night-and-day.
“I traveled for 10, 11 years,” she said, including to places like Emory University Hospital, Piedmont Atlanta and UNC Chapel Hill. “I can tell you, this is state-of-the-art. It’s terrific. It’s very nice.”
Nancy Ledet, the health system’s assistant vice president of Surgical Services, added: “The improvements, the size and the new technology, with an excellent team: It was worth the wait.”
While Sterile Processing is settling in, the health system’s construction management team – which is busy steering the longest sustained string of expansions in the health system’s nearly 70-year history – doesn’t have the luxury of pausing to catch its breath.
While Milner was touring the emptied-out old space on Monday, renovation work was already underway to transform it into a new OR. That will give the hospital 12 on-site operating rooms as well as one cysto room.
Work on renovating the health system’s main campus kitchen and cafeteria is the next major project. That work and the Sterile Processing renovation – as well as the recently completed NICU and nursery overhaul – are all part of the continuing South Tower expansion project, which is estimated to be 60% complete as of last week.