Cincinnati Children's Dedicates New Patient Care Building
Location A to Help Achieve Vision
CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center today presented "The New World of Children's" when it dedicated its new, 447,300 square-foot patient-care building. U.S. Senator Mike DeWine, one of the leading advocates for children on Capitol Hill, gave the keynote address.
The dedication of Location A was the culmination of a four-year building expansion that was undertaken to help Cincinnati Children's achieve its vision of being the leader in improving child health.
The opening of Location A, which is on the corner of Burnet and Erkenbrecher Avenues, represents a consolidation of inpatient and outpatient care into two, connecting buildings, Location A and Location B (formerly known as the Hospital Tower). This seamless provision of clinical care will enable Cincinnati Children's to make available the latest in medical technology while dramatically improving the ability to provide family centered care.
"Our future, and the health of children who receive care here, has never looked brighter," says James M. Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Cincinnati Children's.
"The opening of Location A enables us to offer the latest technological advances in pediatric health care while improving our ability to provide care that is family-centered," he adds.
Among key features of Location A are:
- A computer-based system in which all medical orders are entered and documented electronically. This system, believed to be the most comprehensive of any pediatric hospital in the United States, is expected to reduce medical errors significantly. The system has two main parts – clinical order entry and clinical documentation. Both use fixed workstations and portable computers with a wireless infrastructure so that orders can be entered and documented at the bedside – during rounds and throughout the day. The system virtually eliminates ordering and transcription (charting) errors and allows direct patient care to begin much earlier in the day.
- A nurse call system, COMposer, which reduces the time it takes for nurses to respond to patient calls. When children and their families need a nurse and press their call buttons, their nurses can be located throughout the hospital. This is accomplished via a locator badge they wear that contains an infrared "tagging" device. Via strategically placed call boxes, nurses can communicate with each other and with families from virtually any inpatient area of the hospital, improving response time and leading to more efficient care.
- Improved amenities for families and children, including computer workstations, laundry facilities, more comfortable sleep sofas, rooms for nursing mothers, and more child life activity centers and playscapes.
- Artwork geared toward patients and families. This includes artwork throughout the building based on a theme of "international holidays" and designed by Eva Maddox Associates, which also designed the artwork in Location B; a multimedia art installation in the Teen Health Center, designed by teens under the direction of internationally known artist Stephen Powers; artwork in the Pediatric Primary Care Center designed by children and professional artists around a theme of Reach Out and Read; and a new chapel designed by the Schickel Design Co. that will incorporate stained glass from Cincinnati Children's original Chapel of the Holy Child.
Cincinnati Children's announced a four-year, $155 million building plan in August 1998. The expansion of research facilities was completed in 2001, bringing total research space to 521,000 square feet in five buildings. The Albert B. Sabin Education Center, which consolidated all Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati's educational resources into one facility, opened in March 2001. Expansion of visitor parking facilities was completed at about the same time as the Sabin Center.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is a 373-bed institution dedicated to the pursuit of perfect health care. It is the only pediatric organization in the United States to receive the prestigious Pursuing Perfection grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation ranks third nationally among all pediatric centers in research grants from the National Institutes of Health. The Cincinnati Children's vision is to be the leader in improving child health, through patient care, research and education.
Contact Information
Jim Feuer, jim.feuer@cchmc.org, 513-636-4656
