Return to Main Menu

Transition bolstered by dedicated teams by Dick Peterson Special to The Catalyst Teams of hospital administrators and managers have worked tirelessly and thoughtfully to ensure that everything exceeds expectations when the new Ashley River Tower admits the first patient Jan. 7.   “We’re planning this facility and designing all the work flows to be efficient and provide safe quality patient care,” said Marilyn Schaffner, Ph.D., R.N., of Clinical Services Administration. Schaffner, along with William “Bill” Spring, R.N., Heart & Vascular Services administrator, have supervised planning to cover virtually all anticipated functions involved in opening and successfully managing this major specialized care hospital.   “At 641,000 square feet and at a cost of more than $300 million, this facility is bigger than the main hospital and the Children’s Hospital combined,” Spring said. Although he has helped open other hospitals, he said this is the biggest project with which he has been involved.   “We’ve pushed our managers to the very limits,” he said. “We require much of them to both get ready for the move and still maintain a high level of excellence until they do move.”   The 12 teams in the Action Coordinating Committee, which were formed by Spring and Schaffner, have been planning the opening. These teams have responded exceptionally well to ensure efficient hospital operation. “We have some fine people working here and I’m proud to be associated with them for what they have accomplished,” Spring added.   “It’s a matter of putting all the pieces together and making decisions along the way that are ultimately going to impact patient care,” Schaffner said. Many questions have been posed as MUSC plans for the opening. For example, “Say a patient comes in with chest pain. We have to figure out where that patient is going to park; we have to figure out what elevator they are going to use to come up to the chest pain center and who will be there to greet them,” Schaffner said. “All of those things will ultimately impact the outcome of that patient with chest pain.”   Schaffner said such scenarios repeat in each of the 12 areas covered by the Action Coordinating Committees. “We used a patient scenario testing approach,” she said.   The aim was to design Ashley River Tower to facilitate a patient-centered focus; one that Schaffner said will become the norm in future construction and renovation in the medical center.   “Our planning not only means we have the facilities right and the equipment right, but the human resources right as well,” she explained. From her experience with these types of projects, Schaffner anticipates a “mourning period” for some of the staff who go to ART. Adjusting to a different location and routine can take weeks, she said.   Countless details had to be worked out. For instance, “What happens when all of the 9th floor and 10 West moves?” Schaffner asked. “Say, those floors are at 50 percent capacity. How are we going to get those patients from the main hospital to Ashley River Tower? Or do we even want to do that? And what about surgery? When do we shut down certain surgeries in the main hospital so we have fewer patients to move to Ashley River Tower?”     Though the questions are hypothetical, they must be answered or become potential problems that could compromise patient care later. And the questions seem endless: How many wheelchair vans will be needed, and how many ambulances? Will an ambulance for the highest level of critical care be needed for ventilated patients?   Where will patients park, and how will they get to the right area for the services they need? Ancillary Services has to take a new look at how the pharmacy delivers medications at ART. Information Technology needs to determine how many computers will be needed, where they will be placed, and where computer plug-ins should be installed.   What about the transport of residents, or staff who have to go from one hospital to the other? Although it’s only a block away, people will be going back and forth all hours of the day and night.   “And what if a family shows up at Ashley River Tower and their loved one is at the main facility? Meducare currently, and will continue to provide a shuttle van service  7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, for patients. These are all questions tackled by the Action Coordinating Committee,” Schaffner said.   Meanwhile, the Ambulatory Implementation Team focused on the clinic process, patient access, and getting patients checked into heart and vascular and interventional radiology.   Still, there will be patients who made their appointments six months or a year ago who will have to be notified to go to the new facility instead of the main hospital. This is important, because those who have been to MUSC so many times will assume they know exactly where to go only to find that their treatment area has been moved. Attending to the main facility Spring and Schaffner both acknowledge that even once ART is up and running, there still is the realignment of services in the main hospital.   “We will continue operating as is, but we also have a whole realignment plan for the patient rooms that will be vacated, and we are hoping to take the opportunity to align like services,” Schaffner said.   Improvements are being planned for the main hospital. Brighter lighting will be installed, rooms will be painted and floors replaced, if needed, by removing old carpet tiles to ease transport of patients through hallways. “I’m as excited about the realignment plans as I am about Ashley River Tower, because it gives us an opportunity to improve the environment in the main hospital as well,” she said.   The implementation team leaders have been busy translating questions and potential problems into action to smooth the transition in both hospitals as ART becomes operational, Schaffner said, adding, “Each detail demands a decision with potential impact on patient care.”   Like Spring, Schaffner expressed the highest praise for the implementation team leaders and their colleagues: “We have strong leaders on each team and the units that are moving are excited about the opportunity. It has been an incredible process.”   For additional information on Ashley River Tower, visit its Web site at http://www.muschealth.com/ashleyrivertower/index.htm. Ashley River Tower committees, chairs Support: John Franklin University: Lisa Montgomery Human Relations: Betts Ellis Ancillary: June Darby Nursing: Sharon DeGrace Facilities: Dennis Frazier OR: Karen Weaver IT: Dave Northrup Physician: Pat Cawley Ambulatory: Sherry Gillespie Miller Patient Access: Sue Pletcher Diagnostics/Intervention: Natalie Ankney     Friday, Sept. 28, 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.