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Baystate prepares to open 'Hospital of the future'

Date: 2/28/2012

Feb. 29, 2012

By G. Michael Dobbs

news@thereminder.com

SPRINGFIELD — No detail appears to have been overlooked at what has been described as "the hospital of the future" at Baystate Medical Center (BMC)

Dr. Mark Hirko, chief of vascular surgery, Dr. Aaron Kugelmass, chief of the Division of Cardiology, and Stanley Hunter, project executive, showed reporters around the Davis Family Heart and Vascular Center on Feb. 24. The center is in the new MassMutual Wing, the first phase of the hospital's expansion plan.

From providing space and furniture in patient rooms for family members to stay with a loved one to state of the art medical equipment to a video system in the operating rooms that allows doctors from around the hospital to collaborate on medical procedures, Hirko said the design of the facility was executed "with thoughts of the patient coming first."

The center features six cross-function surgical suites; a 20-room unit that allows patients undergoing outpatient procedures to go from pre-op to discharge with the same nursing teams; 96 rooms of private medical-surgical beds for overnight stays; and 32 cardiovascular critical care rooms with accommodations for family members.

The $296 million first phase has provided 450 local construction jobs, according to information released by Baystate Medical Center.

Hunter noted the construction incorporated many green building features. The roof over the third floor is the D'Amour Healing Garden where patients and families can sit and walk. The roof has planting which help control the amount of storm water that goes into the sewers. The entire new wing was oriented for maximum use of the sun and wind patterns for the conservation of energy, he added. When the building previously on the location was demolished, Hunter said that 94 percent of the material was recycled.

The carpets in the wing were made without toxic chemicals, Hunter noted and will be cleaned without chemical cleaners.

Kugelmass said that many hospital staff members suffer from excess noise and "alarm fatigue," so in this new facility employees will be equipped with a hand-held telephones which "create a much more healing environment and is more satisfying for the people who work here."

The cardiovascular critical care units have huge sliding glass doors and a nursing ration of two rooms per nursing station, Hirko explained. There is a large computer screen over the bed that allows medical staff to see the patient's information quickly and easily.

In the private medical-surgical rooms, Hunter said the goal was to create "a human environment." Every room is for a single patient and has a foldout sofa bed for family members to stay with a loved one. The rooms all have a large window showing a western view. Kugelmass explained the rooms had been designed with input from doctors, nurses and patients.

In the operating rooms the goal was to have "maximum flexibility," Kugelmass explained. This will allow easy collaboration between practitioners of different medical disciplines in the treatment of a patient.

"Everything about this room, everything about his hospital has been to break down those boundaries, those silos," he said.

Kugelmass believes the cost of health care in the facility will ultimately decrease because of the greater efficiencies the new center will offer.

BMC is already one of the top 15 integrated care facilities in the country and Kugelmass said is a "national leader in terms of the outcomes it achieves."

The first patient arrives in the new wing on March 2.



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