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MUSC's new hospital Courtenay facility to impact all employees by Heather Woolwine Public Relations Completion of the new hospital facility on Courtenay Drive is triggering a lot of excitement and a bit of confusion over where service lines will remain in existing facilities.   While it is understandable that personnel not moving to the new facility may feel left out, MUSC leadership is urging everyone on campus to consider that the new Courtenay facility is part of a larger plan. That plan is to eventually move all of MUSC’s adult inpatient services to that area, and in the meantime, the new facilitywill have a ripple effect throughout campus that will impact the patient care, research, and education of every person on this campus.   For years, the current MUSC hospital system has operated at full capacity most of the time, so the demand for new and better facilities, as well as a way to relieve some of the pressure on the existing infrastructure was warranted.   “Prior to setting things in motion for the new hospital, we were growing without the space,” said John Cooper, MUHA finance director. “The needs of our physicians, referring physicians, students, and other employees are ever changing; and it’s not easy to incorporate those new necessities into a 50-year-old building. Massive columns can’t be moved to accommodate new equipment; changes on top of changes throughout the years restrict layout and renovations and what new equipment we can purchase to put into the current facility. This is new ground for us to think about and construct an entire new hospital complex. We’re adding a $25-million increase to our current house payment. You take a big gulp and go forward, because we’re all aware that we can’t survive if we don’t expand.”   The financial implications of the Courtenay facility will have numerous effects throughout the hospital system. By increasing the hospital system’s capacity to house and treat patients, more revenue is generated into the system and thus, more renovations, new construction, and equipment purchasing can be realized. “With the success of this new facility, we’ll be able to buy more and better equipment throughout the MUHA enterprise, renovate the Ashley Avenue facility, and, hopefully, build up our margins again to support a Phase II facility and move the rest of the adult population services over to Courtenay Avenue,” Cooper said. “Once we are able to move some service lines over there, we have the opportunity to expand the service lines that stay behind; and the ACC (Action Coordinating Committee) is currently looking at the backfill plans to see what will and should be done with the vacated space.”   Hospital efficiency and safety also will improve with the addition of the new facility, and not just inside the new space.   The new building itself promotes innovative design and it’s through the savings instigated by a better design that will translate into more for the surrounding buildings and structures on campus.  “We’re going to save money everywhere simply by having a facility that will function so efficiently,” Cooper said. “For example, before we built the 5th floor Heart and Vascular Center, we had cath labs in four or five places throughout the hospital, which meant staffing in four to five places and resulting in decreased efficiency and duplicative efforts. Now everything is centralized so things run more smoothly and are not duplicated. By expanding and consolidating services throughout the system, thanks to new space and the renovation and redistribution of current space, we will save money.”   Another aspect sure to affect every employee’s work life will stem from using the new, state-of-the-art space as a testing ground for new systems designed to better health care delivery and patient documentation. The new facility will be virtually paperless, with patient documentation and records kept in computers, demonstrating not only a way to save money, reduce medication errors and address other aspects of patient safety in the Courtenay facility, but also to aid in making transitions easier and better understood prior to implementation in the current facility, thus lessening the burden and headaches sometimes associated with change.   “It is much more than a new building. It represents our vision to enhance delivery of health care to all our patients,” said Stuart Smith, Medical Center CEO and vice president of clinical operations. “The additional space, in both the new and current facilities, will advance excellence in providing care, conducting clinical research and educating tomorrow’s leaders in health care. We are not only adding to our clinical footprint but are also adding new opportunities for our staff’s professional development. New positions will be created and advancement opportunities possible. We envision our front line staff and clinicians empowered by leadership to make decisions that will better serve their unique patient population… [And] the additional clinical space and newer technology serving our community to meet the growing demand for our highly regarded services while serving our employees by creating a better work environment for all.”   But it’s not just finances or hospital staff that will be affected by the new facility on Courtenay Drive. Indeed, students and researchers will see new opportunities related to the new building.   As translational research continues to gain momentum, and the realization of medical therapies and innovations depends ever more on clinical testing with cutting edge equipment and technology, the new facility will provide researchers across the institution an environment to quickly move their research from laboratory to bedside. “There are many areas in which our investigators are working on technological developments that could lead to major break throughs,” said Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., MUSC president. “One example is the work of Dr. [Frank] Spinale and Dr. [Michael] Zile in developing tests that can predict the likelihood that patients with heart disease will develop heart failure. An endowed chair proposal based upon this work was approved this year and we are negotiating with a major health care company to further develop and eventually commercialize this technology. This is just one of many such examples; we expect to play a significant role in bringing new drugs and medical devices to clinical application. … We are already national, if not world leaders in cardiac imaging and endoscopy, and we expect that the facility will be a testing ground for new and emerging technologies.”   Clinical research seems to be one key to staying on the edge of many health care disciplines, and having a facility that opens with only the most recent and advanced medical technology will further serve the missions of those throughout campus by fueling their research and educational needs.   Students throughout MUSC will benefit from a new facility that will help them acquire skills that will serve them in the future.    “Students of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and other disciplines will be working with advanced information systems that will help optimize care and avoid unintended complications of treatment,” Greenberg said. “We expect those who train here to become leaders in technology adoption when they go into other practice settings. Above and beyond the technical aspects of the new facility, it has been designed to be a functional learning environment and also a beautiful setting in which to work and study.”     Friday, March 2, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.