Superhospital ICU ramping up
More patients admitted as staff adjusts to new facilities, procedures
The new intensive-care unit of the McGill University Health Centre was filled to half capacity Thursday as doctors and nurses treated patients with liver failure who are awaiting transplants, those suffering from septic shock, as well as an individuals recovering from cardiac surgery and bone-marrow transplants.
Four days after the historic move from the old Royal Victoria Hospital to the Glen site of the MUHC, a total of 17 patients were being cared for in the ICU, which has a total capacity of 35 beds. The MUHC was keeping the ICU below capacity on purpose as its surgeons slowly ramp up the number of elective (non-urgent) surgeries.
“This first week has been difficult for all of us, trying to get our bearings,” said Dr. Peter Goldberg, chief of critical care at the MUHC.
“Navigating our way around the ICU and the hospital has been in- teresting. It’s a large place, unfamiliar to us, but overall it’s a really excellent facility.”
The new ICU is awash in natural light, and windows are cut into the walls of each of the treatment rooms, allowing the medical staff to view the physical condition of patients down the hall. Unlike the old ICU where patients shared rooms, the new facility has only private rooms to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. Each room also has its own sink for staff to wash their hands.
The wires and tubes from the vital-signs monitors and other medical equipment do not touch the floor as they are attached to large booms that are suspended from the ceiling. This was done to reduce the spread of germs.
One of the innovations of the ICU is that depending on the medical circumstances of each patient, the staff will be able to turn around the beds so that they face the windows, with panoramic views of Westmount, downtown and Mont-St- Hilaire in the distance on the South Shore.
“For the patient, it’s absolutely wonderful that they have all that light from the outside,” said ICU nurse Rita Larotonda. “It will have a therapeutic effect on them.”
The old ICU had windows, but the views were blocked by buildings that surrounded it, creating a “depressing” atmosphere for both patients and staff, said ICU nurse manager Sylvie Ampleman.
“The old site was a beautiful building, but inside it was almost like being in the basement,” she added.
The new vital-signs monitors are a bonus as well, as they give the medical staff “enhanced readings” so that “we can diagnose more quickly and even prevent” problems from occurring, Larotonda explained.
The old ICU had 24 beds, divided into two pods, while the new one has 35 beds, divided into three pods. This will represent a challenge to the ICU staff, Ampleman said.
“We’re in a period of transition still, but every day we feel that issues are being fixed. We’re not there yet, but by the end of the week I think we should be pretty comfortable.”
Meanwhile, medical activities were gradually increasing across the superhospital. From Sunday to Thursday afternoon, a total of 38 babies were born in the birthing centre, and the occupancy rate in the emergency room stood at 52 per cent. The Cedars Cancer Centre was also full of patients.