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Mary Lou Moore and Kenneth Baughman detailed plans for the Shapiro Cardiovascular Center at Quality Rounds last week.
IN planning the patient- and family-centered Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, BWH committees went straight to those in the know: patients and their families. "Patients want a little more autonomy," Mary Lou Moore, RN, MSN, CCRN, nurse manager of Tower 12, said last week during Quality Rounds. Moore and Kenneth Baughman, MD, director of BWH's Advanced Heart Disease Section, presented "The Shapiro Cardiovascular Center: Creating a Vision for the Future," detailing planning efforts of the Shapiro Center. When the facility opens in 2008, it will boast many patient-centered amenities in an environment that fosters integrated services, efficient care delivery and staff collaboration. Patient and Family Centered Focus groups were comprised of former Tower 8 and 12 cardiovascular patients who endured long lengths of stay. "They told us what it was like to be debilitated in a bed in a room where they can't even turn off the lights themselves," Moore said. These patients voiced concerns about family members who stayed overnight in chairs. They suggested patient rooms include a comfortable place for a family member to spend the night and a way for patients to close the curtains without having to call the nurse, among other items. Planning committees and architects took these suggestions to heart and designed single-occupancy rooms each with a sofa bed and a private, handicap-equipped bathroom with extra wide doors. Each inpatient floor houses a family lounge and patient and family conference rooms. The outpatient area has a family center similar to the Bretholtz Center for Patients and Families. Integration of Services The Shapiro Center will integrate the latest innovations and cutting edge techniques while fostering enhanced collaboration and communication among care providers, educators and researchers. "We hope this will transform the care of cardiovascular patients here and serve as a paradigm for the care of cardiovascular patients across the country," Baughman said. The outpatient clinic rooms are designed to accommodate cardiovascular care providers from all service lines. This streamlines the delivery of care for patients as they won't have to travel to separate buildings for vascular services, for example. In addition, imaging and noninvasive imaging, including CT, nuclear medicine and stress echo will be in the same area to keep with the integrated model. Space for Staff The design calls for patient rooms around the perimeter of five inpatient floors, leaving a service center for staff at the core of each floor. This area includes a nurses station, two large conference rooms, a nurses' lounge and lockers, space for social workers, care coordinators and physicians, offices for nurse managers and educators and staff sleep space. Inside patients' rooms, nurses have a sink, a cart with care supplies and space to complete documentation. They also have stations outside patient rooms with monitors and a glass window into the room. More to Come The Shapiro Center is slated to open in April 2008, as planning committees continue reviewing floor assignments, ICU placement and specifics for care delivery. For that, planners will seek additional staff feedback.