By Julie Ruiz-Wibbelsmann
Our new Eden Hospital will be equipped with the latest technology, ensuring our patients the highest level of medical care and patient safety. The following are a few of the clinical advantages of our forward-thinking technology.
Pneumatic tube delivery system
“Our hospital will expedite the delivery of care through a computer-controlled pneumatic tube system,” says Bryan Daylor, vice president of ancillary services at Eden Medical Center. “This network of tubes rapidly circulates medications and lab specimens throughout the hospital.”
Integrated Surgical Suites
The new hospital will have state-of-the art surgical suites with integrated technology to create the optimal operating environment for the patient, surgeon and staff. We will customize our suites by installing surgical tables and surgical navigation equipment that are tailored for specific procedures.
“To support all procedure-specific equipment,” adds Daylor. “We’ve installed ceiling-mounted equipment booms, along with surgical lights to illuminate the operating field.”
Bedside care
The new hospital design includes larger, private inpatient rooms that will allow us to provide more bedside services for the patient’s comfort and convenience, including:
- Therapeutic and diagnostic testing
- Physical therapy
- Respiratory therapy
- Diagnostic cardiology and imaging studies
In addition, each floor will also have designated rooms for bedside dialysis.
Medication dosage safeguards
“Pyxis Medication Stations have been installed to increase patient safety and are fully integrated with our electronic health record (EHR) system. These automated medication dispensing systems ensure that the right patient receives the correct medication and dosage exactly when they need it,” explains Daylor.
Patient monitoring and tracking systems
Our cutting-edge, patient-centered technology will allow us to closely monitor the vital signs of patients. We will also be able to track the location of patients, as well as equipment, throughout the hospital, using a radiofrequency system similar to a global positioning system (GPS). An innovative patient-centered scheduling system will allow us to follow patients through the entire process of their care.
By Julie Ruiz-Wibbelsmann
Checking the webcam, you may notice the unusual metal arch lying on the ground in front of the construction site. This is only one section of the 125-foot spire made of 43,000 pounds of steel set to be installed on the new hospital by the end of May.
“Our steel spire was constructed over the course of 10 months by workers in Buffalo, New York,” says Krystal Herrington, DPR project engineer. “All of the steel was made in the United States, except for a few small pieces from the bottom of the spire. These were made in Canada because of their unique size specifications.”
Transporting the spire
On April 30, the 125-foot spire was delivered in three pieces:
- Center portion of mast
- Lower portion of mast attached to the triangular truss frame (22 inches in diameter at the bottom)
- Upper portion of the mast attached to the triangular truss frame (tapering to 16 inches in diameter, at the top)
Assembling the spire
During the first weeks in May, we’ll assemble the parts of the spire by welding together the pieces. We’ll also cover the truss frame with fabric made of white fiberglass Worker assembling the spireand plastic composite that
- Measures about 0.030 inches in thickness
- Weighs around 1,500 pounds
- Covers approximately 2,000 square feet
We’ll use a special corrosion-proof paint specifically made for steel—called tnemec—in a silver color to match the exterior-skin metal panels of the hospital roof.
Attaching the spire
“By the end of May,” explains Krystal, “we’ll hoist our spire onto the south face of the new hospital, just west of the main entrance. Connecting something as heavy as our spire to the building face takes especially strong equipment. To lift the spire into place, we’ll use two cranes each weighing 265 tons: one with a 157 foot-long telescoping boom and the other with a 171 foot-long telescoping boom.”
We’ll attach the 43,000-pound spire to the five existing beams on the south face of the building around the height of the second-floor level. Each connection will have a total of 12 high-strength bolts, 7.38 inches long and 1.38 inches in diameter, with hardened steel nuts and washers.
“Once completed, our spire will rise above the building roof, illuminated by four light beams from the top, bottom and center of the spire,” describes Krystal.
Courtesy of DPR Construction
We’ve made a great deal of progress on the construction of the new hospital and the interior finishing. Here’s a closer look at some of the progress this past week.
The interior detail is coming to life. This first floor nurses station showcases the casework, trim and lighting.
The Imaging Department will feature a new Bi-Plane imaging system, now being installed.
A built-in inant scale in the Labor/Delivery/Recorvery/Post-Partum rooms.
Ceiling work on the exterior of the hospital, at the Ambulance Bay.
The adjacent medical clinic work is advancing quickly, with the exterior "skin" installed along the south side of the building.
Courtesy of DPR Construction
This week’s photos highlight the interior work, including paint, tile, casework and other architectural features. The warm colors of the interior walls are carried over to the rooftop gardens to create a calm and healing environment for patients.
Landscaping materials arrive for the green roof, located atop the third floor rooftop.
The casework for the Nurses Station takes form.
Artistic tile work on the patient floor hallways.
Painters are working on most floors for the finishing touches on the warm hues of the walls in patient care areas.
The CT Scan room took n a unique look with accent lighting that runs the color spectrum.
How BIM is changing construction
An interview with Michael Pearson, BIM Manager for DPR Construction, from our YouTube channel.
A look at how Operational Process Redesign is changing how we work and is improving the hospital experience
by Cassandra Clark, Project Communications Director
With only 13 months remaining before our anticipated move-in date, Eden Medical Center is intensively planning every aspect of the transition. But moving into a new hospital doesn’t mean taking with us all of our old systems and ways of doing work. Our employees, physicians and hospital leaders are taking a whole new look at our work processes with the goal to better support the hospital’s mission and improve the way we care for patients – now and in the future.
Our Process Redesign experts do more than look at a specific task. They examine the entire process of providing a service to a person. The employees, physicians and managers performing these tasks are the experts who focus on re-designing the process as a whole in order to achieve the greatest possible benefits to the hospital and ultimately for our patients. The goal is to realize dramatic improvements by fundamentally re-thinking how the organization’s work should be done, rather than focusing on just one specific task improvement.
Leading Eden’s Process Redesign effort is Shelly Young, RN, MHA, CNOR. We sat down with Shelly to learn more about the work she’s doing at Eden.
Shelly Young, RN, MHA, CNOR
Q. Tell us about you.
I have totally embraced Lean and Six Sigma, what we call Operational Process Redesign, because it provides a way to help groups of people from all areas of the hospital solve their own problems in a way that works for everyone.
During my years as a Registered Nurse in the operating room, people who didn’t understand my job were dictating how to care for patients without consideration of how the work was accomplished, often making the work harder. Hoping to facilitate what I thought should be “dictated,” I went back to school. Then, as a member of administration, I still found physicians or patients unhappy with the admin-driven processes. Now, as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, I can help develop effective, helpful solutions by coaching teams of people who do the work and know how it will fit into their existing processes.
Q. What do you want people to know about Process Redesign?
It works! It really works! Using a scientific approach to solving problems, in a way that brings together representatives from each role in a process, we come up with solutions that would not have been discovered any other way. People with different roles in the hospital sit down and solve problems together.
Q. What do you want from employees?
Participation. I want ALL employees to participate. We need employees at the table because they are the experts at their jobs. The people who do the work are very aware of the things that don’t work for them in their everyday work processes, and they often have great ideas for making it better.
Q. What’s the best lesson you have learned?
The smallest, simplest fixes can make the biggest difference. The simplest solutions will improve a process throughout the entire hospital. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money or require big staffing changes to make a better process. We just have to organize ourselves to be more efficient to get care to patients in a healthy and safe way and, at the same time, create an ideal work environment for staff and physicians.
Q. What do you want to achieve here at Eden?
I want to help Eden employees understand how to make this difference. We care about our patients, about humanity and the future of health care. If we can create something at Eden that works for us, it can serve as a model that can work anywhere else in the country. We could change health care! It’s so simple. We don’t always have to spend millions of dollars in equipment to manage the process, we just have to listen to the people who do the work and remove everyday obstacles that keep them from getting their jobs done. Simple solutions will help us all be better prepared to move into our new, state-of-the art hospital.
I love what I do. I love making a difference for people I don’t even know. I’m excited to share this awareness that process redesign is not rocket science. Some solutions are very simple, some are huge, but most important, those solution come from a team of people who are involved in the work. It’s what sets Eden Medical Center apart and above.
Stay tuned: We’ll take a closer look at some of the Process Redesign teams in progress and follow their success over the next year.
Guest blog from Ken Hinck
Eden’s Director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
and Disaster Preparedness Coordinator
We’re all aware of the devastating events happening in Japan. News updates are available around the clock, and we can’t help but focus on the dramatic images of destruction, heroics, despair and hope. The events in Japan remind us again of the immense power of our planet. And we’re witnesses to the ability of the people of Japan, arguably the most earthquake-prepared people in the world, to cope in the earthquake’s aftermath.
Our focus rapidly shifted as events unfolded. Initially, we focused on the news of one of the world’s largest recorded earthquakes and, soon after, the destruction caused by the tsunami. As the tsunami raced across the Pacific, we awaited the arrival of the tsunami surge upon our shores, amazed by the strength of a surge generated 5,000 miles away. And now our focus shifts to Japan’s nuclear disaster and to the presence, no mater how unlikely, of any increased radiation here at home.
Chile, New Zealand, Indonesia, China, and now Japan, I’ve heard it said that the faults of North America are the only “Ring of Fire” faults not to have ruptured in the past decade. Although there is some small comfort in knowing that the type of faults we live on won’t generate an earthquake of Japan’s magnitude, given Bay Area soil, a significant earthquake can cause violent shaking in some areas. Depending on the location of an Alaskan earthquake, a tsunami could affect our coast and could raise concerns about California’s nuclear power plants located on or near active faults and the coastline.
So what do we do?
We take this as a wake up call and prepare! Our focus should shift from current events to our own preparation. It is not a mater of if, but when, a major earthquake will hit the Bay Area. Ben Franklin said it best, “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” If we fail ourselves, we fail our family, and we can not help our community. And as we have seen, a strong community will be needed to respond and be resilient.
Our ability to provide assistance begins with individual preparedness. Studies indicate that responders first need to know that their families are safe so they may fully respond to an event. At Eden, we offer our staff classes in individual and family preparedness so they are confident in their family’s safety and are better able to focus on serving our community. I believe we need to increase the number of prepared families in our communities so that we are all able to take care of ourselves in times of disaster. When we are confident in our own family’s safety and well being, we are better able to reach out and assist others.
Make sure you have a “Family Disaster Plan,” that you have disaster supplies at home to provide for your family and pets for at least 3-5 days, that you have a disaster kit in your workplace and in your cars and never allow your gas tank to fall below half a tank. Find out your employer’s disaster plans for evacuation and shelter-in-place and how you will be contacted after an event. Contact your local fire service and inquire about Neighborhood Emergency Response Teams (NERT) in your area. If they do not exist, ask about training and how you can form one. You can also visit the American Red Cross web page and enroll in their emergency preparedness classes.
Eden Medical Center and Sutter Health continuously prepare to respond to disasters, and we work closely with Alameda County Public Health and other health care and emergency services partners. Our coordinated efforts greatly improve our ability to provide for the healthcare needs of our community. I’ll write more about how we prepare for disasters at Eden and within the community to ensure we are here when you need us most.
“It takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to produce spectacular results.” – Roger Staubach, Hall of Fame Football Player
Planning Is Underway for Transition to New Hospital
by George Bischalaney, President & CEO, Eden Medical Center
Although we are still nearly two years away from moving into the new hospital, teams of employees and physicians have already started planning for the transition to the new building. We call the move a “transition” rather than a move, because it’s a process that involves bringing with us good practices, good people and good programs, while entering a new era of health care. Not only will patients be treated in a new environment, but that environment and the people that provide services will do so with state-of-the-art equipment and support systems that will make care more efficient, and in surroundings that are focused on the comfort and safety for our patients and their families.
Our “transition teams” include our managers, physicians and employees from every department in the hospital. When I think of the journey ahead, I find myself thinking about the people who will make this a reality. Healthcare people work well with uncertainty, with making sense of the challenge of illness and injury and finding the right course of action that results in healing. Caregivers face this every day with patients. We are fortunate to have a great team of people who are passionate about their work and committed to making this transition the best possible experience for everyone involved.
While 2013 seems like a long time away, it is so short when you look at the level of detail involved in transitioning to a new hospital. It’s a monumental task that cannot even be described well in a simple blog post. So, we will break it down into smaller, easier to digest, pieces as time goes on. It will both informative and comforting for all to know the level of effort both necessary and desired to make sure this is done right. It will involve everything from testing equipment and systems to rehearsing the actual move of patients on that one day not too long from now. There is much to be done and we’re both excited and challenged by the task at hand.
We’ll keep you posted on our progress and look forward to your comments.
Photo courtesy of DPR Construction
Happy New Year! The year begins with the installation of the curtainwall (windows) on the south elevation. The break in the winter storms gives the crews a good jump on the progress.
Tekla International Recognizes Work of Sutter Team!
Tekla International — a global software solution company dedicated to improving the building and construction industry by offering solutions to improve quality, cost-efficiency, and sustainability — has named its 2010 Global BIM (Building Information Modeling) Award recipients. Congratulations to the Sutter Medical Center team for earning both the BIM project category and the public vote.
“The winner of the BIM category, Sutter Medical Center, has been carried through on stringent schedule and costs with outstanding results,” said the jury. “Building information modeling was used in an exemplary way of maximized collaboration. The project was managed based on the model with all disciplines utilizing the modeled building information and fitting in a huge amount of HVAC pipes and equipment needed for a hospital to function.”
Entries to the Global BIM Awards competition were the winners of regional Tekla model competitions held by Tekla area offices and resellers during 2010. The competition was divided into three categories: BIM, steel, and concrete. Tekla Global BIM Awards 2010 gathered nearly 50 exemplary construction projects around the world and nearly 1400 votes for the varied Tekla models presented on the competition website.
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