Texas Children’s recently held a ribbon cutting to officially mark the opening of the newly renovated 16-bed acute inpatient care unit at 5 North Abercrombie.
The unit opened one week ahead of schedule on February 26 following last month’s flooding caused by a damaged water line that impacted patient care areas of 7 South Abercrombie. To optimize patient flow, the accelerated opening of the unit was successfully achieved as a result of meticulous collaboration and coordination from our clinical and nonclinical leadership and staff across the organization.
Dedicated leaders and employees representing several departments – Facilities, Nursing, Information Services, Security, Supply Chain, Bio-med, Environmental Services and Ancillary Services – met twice each day to ensure the successful opening of 5 North.
“Several crews worked overtime to ensure the unit construction was complete and all patient supplies and equipment were in place prior to the delivery of patient care,” said Monica Simmons, assistant clinical director for the patient units in Abercrombie. “A specific emphasis was placed on ensuring emergency routes were tested to allow for safe patient transport to critical care when needed.”
Prior to opening the unit, a Simulation-based Clinical System Test was conducted to identify and correct any latent safety concerns in the newly renovated hospital environment, systems and processes of care.
“Since the unit was new, it was ideal to use simulation to stress the emergency response systems, codes or other high-risk or high-impact patient care scenarios before actually putting patients in the unit,” said Dr. Jennifer Arnold, medical director of Texas Children’s Simulation Center.
The clinical staff at 5 North participated in several simulations including scenarios on an RRT to code response, an adult IMT to code response and a security response scenario. These simulations ensured that our response teams were aware of the location, the equipment and supplies for emergency response were available and staff members were prepared to respond to all types of medical emergencies.
Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) is the primary admitting service to Abercrombie and consistently partners with acute care nursing to care for children with a variety of pediatric illnesses.
“Fostering a culture of family-centered, effective and efficient patient care has been the mission of PHM and the care teams in Abercrombie are key collaborators in this effort,” said Dr. Brent Mothner, medical director of Abercrombie. “Patient care, safety, and overall family satisfaction are our top priority. The tireless effort by nursing and hospital leadership to create this unit and rise to the challenge are a testament to their dedication to our patients.”