Family Medicine improves patient
care, staff communication
After months of construction and renovation, the Family Medicine
building on Calhoun Street is now completed. Flaunting textured
wallpaper, warm wood accents, freshly painted exam rooms, enlarged
waiting areas, and new providers’ work areas, the building no longer
resembles the once described “1940 asylum motif” prevalent in the space
for so many years. “It seemed like a long process, but I suppose that is the case with all types of remodeling,” said Carolyn Thiedke, M.D., Family Medicine medical director. “The combination of the new functional aspects of the building, like the provider workstations, and the beautiful pieces of artwork and fabrics throughout it really make it a beautiful environment to work in. It’s fabulous.”
The
renovation itself took more time than originally anticipated, but
the end result is certainly worth it. New furniture and design accents
serve to give the place a closer to home feel and the facility now
provides triple the space for patient waiting, better provider work
areas, and with the addition of two exam rooms, the promise of less
time waiting to be seen. The new changes also enable the staff to
better communicate with each other.
“We’ve
eliminated a lot of the clutter from the hallways and increased
patient confidentiality by adding the work stations,” said Bill
Hueston, M.D., Family Medicine chairman. “I think that ultimately the
renovation will not only impact our patients and physicians, but our
teaching will improve in part due to the new space. What we’ve
accomplished is great, but there is still a lot of work to do with the
roof and air conditioning system. We’re on the university waiting list
for those repairs.”In addition to the hard work at the hands of various construction crews, Family Medicine nursing staff, providers, business and registration employees and even their families all pitched in with various projects, like painting, to make the transformation complete.
Family Medicine
staff, patients and other university associates admire the look of the
larger patient waiting area in the newly renovated Family Medicine
building on Calhoun Street. Family Medicine invited MUSC employees,
staff, and patients to an open house on May 31.Friday, June 3, 2005
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