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Since the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s April 10 announcement that Cape Cod Hospital had been given the green light to perform cardiac surgery and that it would partner with BWH to do so, plans have been put in place to make this a reality. Bringing together the tertiary and quaternary resources of BWH and the excellent cardiac care of one of the region’s finest community hospitals, cardiac surgery is slated to begin at Cape Cod Hospital in spring 2002.
When plans and logistics are finalized, a BWH cardiac surgical team will be at Cape Cod Hospital utilizing BWH’s protocols and standards. Through BWH’s continuum of care, the new joint service will offer routine cardiac surgery to area residents at Cape Cod Hospital, while complex cardiac surgery will be referred to BWH.
Renovations are currently taking place at Cape Cod Hospital to prepare for this new service. In addition, Cape Cod Hospital, along with BWH, has been recruiting and hiring nurses, physician assistants and perfusionists to staff these collaborative cardiac surgeries.
BWH staff (physicians, perfusionists, OR nurses, cardiac surgery critical care nurses and step down unit nurses) will soon travel to Cape Cod Hospital to provide educational sessions. In addition, Cape Cod Hospital nurses and perfusionists will visit BWH to take part in the clinical experience of cardiac surgery and recovery. When cardiac surgery first starts to be performed at Cape Cod Hospital, BWH nursing staff will work alongside Cape Cod Hospital staff in the OR and throughout the patient’s hospitalization.
“Sharing BWH’s expertise and skills with another organization is an opportunity for us to showcase our talents and demonstrate the high quality care we provide to our cardiac surgery patients,” said Terry Kahlert, MS, RN, director of Medical, Surgical and Critical Care Nursing at BWH.
“When BWH begins to perform cases at Cape Cod Hospital, 100 cases are forecasted to take place over the course of the first year,” said Margy Hanson, RN, senior vice president of Network Development at BWH.
“I believe this partnership to be a positive step in making our relationship with Cape Cod Hospital closer than it has ever been. Aside from cardiology and cardiac surgery, the partnership is expected to bring about referrals in all specialties to BWH,” said chief of Cardiac Surgery at BWH Lawrence Cohn, MD.
According to Hanson, recruitment of anesthesiologists and integrating both institutions’ information systems are next steps in planning for this partnership.