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The construction of the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center and its planned opening in spring 2008 is presenting the hospital with the unique opportunity to reconfigure much of the patient Tower, BWH’s first facility to welcome patients in 1980.
The cardiac inpatient units on Tower 8 and 12 and some 10AB beds will transition to the Shapiro Center. This will enable BWH to increase the number of private beds and semi-private beds in the Tower in coming years, as the Tower backfill stacking plan is implemented.
“Our plan to backfill the Tower will evolve over time as we look to meet the growing demand for our inpatient services while leveraging our ability to group service lines together,” said Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services.
Where possible, the revamped Tower will feature a regionalization of service lines, such as placing Medicine units or Surgery units in close proximity to each other. “Grouping all our service lines together will help us improve interdisciplinary communication among care providers,” Hickey said.
This regionalization will enhance BWH’s ability to provide care, coverage and rounding because service line patients will be clustered close together. Additionally, support space for supplies and conferencing that will aid education and training will be addressed, Hickey said.
And as BWH’s commitment to better serving patients and their families is the cornerstone of all planning for Shapiro, that same commitment is driving the refurbishing plans for the Tower, said Chief Operating Officer Kate Walsh. “We’re not simply building a new building across the street. We’re improving all of BWH,” Walsh said.
Budget planning is underway for fiscal year 2008, which begins in Oct. 1, 2007, and department heads have been directed to include Shapiro costs beginning in FY 08’s third quarter, which begins April 1, 2008. Plans for refurbishing and renovating Tower units and even floors will be worked into BWH’s capital budget through 2012.