It’s a New Day at Meadowview
February 21, 2012
It’s A New Day at Meadowview
BY MARLA TONCRAY
Ledger Independent
February 14, 2012
To the occasional visitor, the changes at Meadowview Regional Medical Center may not be noticed at first. But for patients at MRMC, as well as staff and doctors, the hospital’s new vision and motto of “It’s A New Day” is taking shape.
Since August, planning has taken place on how best to implement a $4 million project at MRMC that will redesign and give a facelift to four departments: labor and delivery, endoscopy, medical/surgical and the operating rooms. In addition, the cafeteria will be renovated and patient rooms will receive a facelift.
Although Meadowview’s new Chief Executive Officer Robert Parker has been leading the way, he credits a team effort between physicians, staff and employees with the finished products, which will be implemented over a 12 to 14 month process.
“Every department, every floor will be touched. Good things are happening and our leaders are engaged,” said Parker.
The project began in the fall of 2011 and marketing of the new vision and services will begin in mid-March by Director of Marketing Angie Calland.
One of the first changes was the implementation of a hospitalist program in November. A hospitalist is a trained specialist who deals specifically with in-patient hospital care.
What this means for patients, especially those who don’t have a primary physician or those transferred to MRMC, is the hospitalist will be responsible for performing exams and ordering diagnostic tests and other treatments appropriate for acute conditions. For patients who have a primary physician that has elected to participate in the program, the hospitalist will keep the patients primary physician informed of patient’s admission, condition and discharge and monitors the patient’s course of care.
Nine doctors have elected to participate in the program, with an average of 15-20 patients seen per day by the hospitalist team of Dr. Jeff Dickerson, Dr. Ignacio Calvo and Nurse Practitioner Abe Keating.
Patients undergoing endoscopy procedures will enjoy more privacy after the department moves to a separate area of the second floor. Waiting areas, procedure rooms and recovery rooms will be together and can accommodate 10 patients at once. The move separates endoscopy patients from general surgical patients.
Director of Surgical Services Sherrie Goodwin said renovations will begin in March and will take eight weeks to complete. Goodwin is also involved in renovations to the operating room, which will see all four OR suites upgraded, including a $100,000 table used for orthopedic surgery.
“It’s a more state of the art design and better for the patients,” said Goodwin.
Nurses will have the latest in technology to dispense medicines through the AccuDose system beginning in April. According to Tina Fulton, medical/surgical charge nurse, the system is a “huge upgrade” to how medicines are now dispensed. The technology fingerprints the nurse, then through information entered into a computer system, medicines are dispensed automatically according to patient data.
Providing 24-hour security for patients and staff is also priority and an outside security firm will be hired to provide 24/7 security effective April 1. Chief Nursing Officer Susan Mahoney said from a nurses viewpoint, visible security is needed to address aggressive and violent situations that can break out late at night or in the early morning hours in the emergency room. Security personnel will also patrol parking areas and hospital floors.
“Healthcare in a hospital setting is hectic. Having security will allow nurses to feel more comfortable and will foster a sense of trust for our patients,” said Kelly Leming, director of medical/surgical.
Identifying employees of MRMC, versus visitors has also been reviewed and each department now wears scrubs in a designated color.
The color-coded system was implemented, Mahoney said, so that patients will recognize who should be in their room and what position they hold, and for security reasons.
Recruitment of physicians has been ongoing since last summer. Practitioners are being interviewed in areas of oncology, gastroenterology and cardiology. Parker said he hopes to have an announcement soon related to those areas.
An area that has suffered in recent years has been the inability to provide general surgical services to patients around the clock. However, the gap has been filled by the hiring of Dr. P.J. Persson, who is currently working part-time, with plans to become a full-time staff member in the near future. Persson joins Dr. Larry Manship in providing 24/7 coverage, which will stem the flow of patient transfers to out-of-town hospitals for general surgical procedures.
Administrative changes at the hospital include hiring Teresa Daniel as the chief financial officer and the relocation of several administrative offices to the first floor of the medical offices building.
Admitting that Meadowview has had some difficult times in recent years with personnel changes at the CEO level and a public lawsuit, Parker said he knows what the staff is trying to accomplish is just the beginning of a journey to improve patient care.
“We know it’s a journey and we know we provide good care, but we want to surpass that and provide exceptional care,” he said.
