Welcome to the house that nurses built

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Friday, January 22, 2021

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Welcome to the house that nurses built

Mike Scott, mscott@stph.org

Throughout construction of St. Tammany Health System’s new $40 million patient wing, the health system’s nurses have been consulted to make sure the four-story wing would fit their needs. It is scheduled to open in early 2021.  (Photo by Tim San Fillippo / STHS)

Call it the house that nurses built.

It’s not as if they were out there with hammers, drywall knives and tile cutters, but St. Tammany Health System’s nursing team played a nonetheless crucial role in the design of the health system’s new 160,000-square-foot, four-story patient tower set to come online in early 2021.

“That building represents an extraordinary collaboration among the architects, the builders and our own nurses at St. Tammany Health System,” STHS Chief Nursing Officer Kerry Milton said. “It’s not just your garden-variety hospital wing. The result, in addition to being a beautiful representation of St. Tammany Health System’s brand of world-class healthcare, is an innovative, evidence-based facility designed with the needs of our nurses in mind.”

That also makes it something of a nurse’s dream, Milton said – and that’s no accident.

From the project’s beginning and throughout construction, STHS nurses – from supervisors to bedside caregivers – were repeatedly consulted to help make sure the building would be effective and efficient when it comes to delivering quality care.

Early on, that consisted of the creation of a full-sized mockup of one of the new wing’s patient rooms, complete with a hospital bed and other furniture. Nurses were then invited to spend time in the room, offering feedback on the best location for everything from gas jets to power outlets to the bathroom.

Every piece of it, throughout, we’ve been involved in the process, from the patient rooms to the supply closets. As far as I know, there’s no other hospital anywhere around here that’s like this.”

- Mathilde Lyon, nurse manager for adult care

That feedback, which was similarly solicited at multiple stages throughout construction, was incorporated into the building’s design.

It’s a big part of the reason why the new building, which was designed by fl+WB Architects and built by Womack Construction, features such nurse-friendly touches as:

  • Patient lifts, which are positioned in every patient room throughout the 30-bed Critical Care Unit, to help transfer patients from the bed to another bed or wheelchair.
  • Rubberized floors throughout every unit, to ease the impact on nurses’ knees and hips from being on their feet all day.
  • Support services, like radiology capabilities, conveniently located in or adjacent to nursing units.
  • Larger and more centralized nursing stations, to facilitate camaraderie and sharing of information.
  • A large central break room, featuring mailboxes for nurses, which drew “oohs” from those participating on a recent walk-through and which is complimented by several smaller break rooms.
  • Advanced infection prevention technology, including antimicrobial surfaces, germ-busting UV lighting in every room with a water source, as well as easy-to-clean, solid-surface walls from floor to ceiling. 

“Every piece of it, throughout, we’ve been involved in the process, from the patient rooms to the supply closets,” said Mathilde Lyon RN, nurse manager for adult care at STHS. “As far as I know, there’s no other hospital anywhere around here that’s like this.”

It’s not all about the nurses, though. Patient needs, as identified by nurses, were also carefully considered.

And so, in addition to electronic door tags outside each room, which give care providers quick and convenient access to patient information, in-room monitors provide patients with a schedule of impending procedures. Also in each room: iPads, to bring healthcare technology directly to the bedside.

Springboarding off the philosophy behind St. Tammany Hospital Foundation’s Healing Arts Initiative, which has brought art to every area of the hospital, high-end fixtures such as custom lighting – all LED and all dimmable – are ubiquitous in the new building, lending both the front of the house and the back of the house a distinctly non-institutional feel.

Families of patients will also appreciate a “healing garden” located off the spacious second-floor Intensive Care waiting area, which features high-end finishes from floor to ceiling.

“It really is a pretty and calming environment,” Lyon said. “And that can reduce the stress of patients and of families. That helps us when the family is in the right mindset.”

Another unique but artful touch: A stainless-steel time capsule from 2020, glassed in and on display in the first-floor elevator lobby. Not to be opened until 2070, it fittingly pays homage to St. Tammany Health System’s nurses of 2020.

“That might be my favorite part of the whole building,” Milton said. “Our nurses are the backbone of our healthcare team, and this building is testament to St. Tammany Health System’s recognition of that fact – and that time capsule will ensure everybody knows it for generations to come.”

[ Search St. Tammany Health System job openings ]

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