Hundreds of staff and volunteers like Barbara Gray, R.N., above, playing the part of a patient, put the new Critical Care Tower through its paces last week. (Photo by Anne Rayner)
A day in the life of the new Critical Care Tower
Does the nurse call system work? Can we operate the bariatric lifts? What is the route to Radiology? Where are supplies located?
Those questions and more were answered in a special Critical Care Tower training exercise called “Day in the Life.” Held Oct. 15, the exercise took 250 staff and volunteers through 10 scripted scenarios to test the new addition to Vanderbilt University Hospital.
The scenarios were designed to mimic the typical processes that staff and faculty use to care for patients in the Medical, Neurological and Surgical Intensive Care Units and to help them get comfortable in their new space.
Scenarios included a patient who was having right-side weakness and needed to be evaluated for stroke, a patient who was transported via LifeFlight with a ruptured brain aneurysm, and a child who began choking in a waiting area and became unresponsive.
After each scenario, participants had a debriefing session to discuss what could be improved before real patients are moved into the new facility Saturday, Nov. 14.
General orientation about the new Critical Care Tower is available to VUMC staff who will not work directly in the CCT but who wish to familiarize themselves with the space. The one-hour tours will include patient care areas, waiting rooms, the atrium, elevators and access to VUH.
General orientation will be offered through Nov. 2. Sign up by clicking here.
A ribbon cutting will be held Nov. 5. VUMC employees and volunteers are invited to an open house that day from 2-4 p.m. or 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Photos by Anne Rayner
During last week’s “Day in the Life” exercise, John Barwise, M.D., right, enters orders while members of the care team attend to a simulated patient in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit.
James McDonald, R.N., center, works the controls of a patient-lifting system in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit.
Jim Tenpenny, left, Neil Masters and Terry Ralph in the new tower’s atrium.
Mike Daly, M.S.N., R.N., and Lillian McGehee take part in an exercies in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit.
Larry Goldber, Cynthia Facemire and Ashley Staniewski, M.S.N., R.N., discuss the flow of the training exercises.
Betsy Groendyk, M.S.N., R.N., opens the door as James Thompson, E.M.T., and Jordan Jones, R.N., transport a patient to the Neuro Intensive Care Unit.