By Sally Sapega
Patient care units like Founders 12 got new floors, finishes, equipment, and signage.
Months before Penn Medicine celebrated the opening of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) Pavilion building in October 2021 – and with it, the move of the hospital’s inpatient Heart and Vascular, Neuroscience, Transplant, and Cancer units across 34th Street – plans for a major update of 13 adult inpatient acute-care units staying at 3400 Spruce Street were taking shape.
Over the past two years, HUP Main, as it is now known, has been revamped to eliminate double-occupancy rooms – now all rooms are private – and reorganize buildings to group similar patient populations together. In this way, rather than having surgical or general medicine patients mixed in with other patients throughout the hospital, care teams can develop expert skills and understand the nuances of that population’s health needs.
“This transformation to ‘population centeredness’ is the foundation of HUP’s future,” said HUP Associate Executive Director Alyson Cole, who oversaw the HUP transition planning and occupancy phases for the Pavilion and HUP Main campuses.
Putting Together the Puzzle
Hospital leaders had to consider multiple factors to decide where patient populations would be best placed. The transition of each of the 13 acute-care units took two to three months of planning, whether it was relocating permanently or moving out temporarily while its floor underwent an update.
“It was like a puzzle, trying to fit in the pieces,” said Kathy Gallagher, MS, RN, clinical advisor to the HUP transition projects.
Hospital leaders determined it made sense for the Founders building to house general medicine patients, while Rhoads was best suited for surgical patients. Each unit got a “refresh” with new floors, finishes, updated bathrooms, and some new equipment and signage.
All Hands on Deck
The entire project involved many teams to plan and execute. Communication was essential. Weekly meetings involving unit managers, construction project leads, and hospital department leaders kept staff up to speed about the status of each unit’s move.
Environmental Services (EVS) played an integral role, with crews cleaning floors multiple times throughout the process while keeping up with their normal workload. After the Pavilion opening, before any renovations could begin, the vacated spaces needed to be decontaminated. Then, EVS cleared the floors of dust and debris immediately after construction was completed, and again, once the rooms were outfitted for patient care. The final cleaning was most crucial, making sure the unit was deemed ready for occupancy by the state health department’s Division of Acute and Ambulatory Care (DAAC).
“Everything that was cleanable had to be touched. DAAC surveyors will go on their hands and knees looking under counters and baseboards,” said EVS Director Michael Heckman.
Materials Management, which made sure all of a unit’s medical supplies were in place, and Clinical Engineering, which installed and made sure all necessary equipment was working, also played key roles in transforming the spaces.
Location, Location, Location
During the HUP Main refresh, when units were being moved, admitting patients took on a whole new dimension. It was even trickier when a unit was being split among multiple floors, as when the Silverstein 12 surgical unit was redistributed to three different floors in Rhoads according to surgical specialty, said Joshua Davis, the associate director of Operations for HUP Capacity Management.
“It was a lot of orchestration,” said Robin Wood, PhD, RN, CEN, senior clinical director of the HUP Bed Management Center and the Penn Medicine Transfer Center.
Crossing the Finish Line
The medical intensive care unit team celebrated their return to a refreshed space in the HUP Main Founders building.
To ensure patient safety and quality of care, the state requires an occupancy inspection before it gives hospitals final approval to open patient-care units, whether they’re newly constructed or simply changing spaces. Everything that touches on patient care comes under close inspection: the room’s cleanliness, how well it’s stocked with medical supplies, proof that all medical equipment has been properly installed and tested, proof that 100 percent of the unit’s staff has been properly trained to use the equipment ... and the list goes on.
Regulatory Affairs oversaw that entire process through final state inspection. “When we bring in DAAC, we’re saying ‘This unit is ready for patient care now,’” said Marguerite Kerry, BSN, JD, director of Regulatory Affairs. All these efforts, she said, came down to one priority: “Making sure we’re doing the right thing for our patients – that we’re providing safe, quality care.”
While nursing teams are still getting used to navigating the new spaces and adjusting to the needs of their patient populations, they recognize that “this is about the patients, who need access to our care and in the right environment,” said Janelle Harris, MSN, CMSRN, NE-BC, clinical director of Advanced Medical Nursing. “Bringing the populations together helps us to continually grow our expertise in the care we provide.”