The whole 24- bed outpatient care system on the very first floor of the health center can be transformed for dealing with COVID-19 patients needing intensive care.
Typically, the unit would be used for pre- and post-surgery care when clients are undergoing optional medical treatments.
Conversion of the whole unit would triple the number of ICU beds in the health center, from an existing 12 to 36, healthcare facility CEO Dan Peterson stated Friday.
Much of the outpatient system, consisted of private rooms with moving glass doors, is now empty following the cancellation of many non-urgent procedures and elective surgeries. Those activities were suspended both as a safety measure and to allow the hospital to get ready for a potential surge.
A calm penetrates the outpatient system, as it has throughout the hospital. Patient check outs throughout the coronavirus public health emergency situation have actually been seriously restricted at the Sutter health center, as they have at other regional medical facilities.
Several of the spaces have actually been outfitted with the essential devices to work as ICU spaces, said Dr. Bill Carroll, primary medical executive at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional medical facility.
The adjustments include adding devices that can monitor clients’ electrical rhythms, high blood pressure and heart rate; iPad stations that permit staff to seek advice from Sutter Health intensive-care doctors in San Francisco and Sacramento; and bilevel positive respiratory tract pressure makers, or BiPAP machines, that can be converted into ventilators.
If needed in a rise, the hospital could release in between 20 to 24 ventilators for patients.
Carroll said the health center’s engineers likewise have managed to reverse the air streams in the rooms so that air is “carefully eliminated” from the space and sent through air filters, rather than easily streaming onto the system flooring where it could possibly impact personnel or other patients.
The setup, called a “neutral unfavorable space,” is an alternative to negative pressure rooms, which are designed to prevent cross-contamination by venting air outside a structure.
” It implies that there isn’t positive pressure pressing the air from the inside of the space out into the department, however it’s not drawing air in either,” said Misi Nagle, a nurse who manages patient care in the healthcare facility’s ICU department.
Outside each converted ICU room is a little “clean table,” a three-tiered rolling utility cart with individual protective equipment– including non reusable gowns, deal with masks, a face shield and gloves– that are worn prior to medical staff go into the room.
” The sickest patients are going to require to be in an extensive care unit,” stated Carroll. “We’re going to transform this to an extensive care unit if we need to do that.”
There were no COVID-19 patients at the Sutter health center on Friday, however hospital staff have previously treated cases of coronavirus, as well as patients suspected of having the virus.
One key feature of Sutter’s rise preparation involves training of nurses and staff to look after coronavirus patients in both the ICU and medical-surgical setting, said Wendy Colgan, the health center’s chief nursing executive. Recently, 24 nurses who work in the outpatient surgical treatment center in the medical office complex beside the health center were sent out to “Sutter Health University,” Sutter’s professional training center in Sacramento.
Melissa Brewer, an operating room nurse who’s been with Sutter for a little bit more than 3 years, got training in med-surge treatments, which involves different abilities than those she utilizes as a surgery nurse.
” In surgery, I’m taking care of one client,” she said.
Brewer stated the training enables her to be more “well-rounded” as a nurse, something that’s actually sought after.
” In one nurse’s life you can’t perhaps do every specialized.”
The training also gives her convenience, she stated, as the community waits on a prospective surge, sustaining what many describe as the calm before a storm.
” I’m attempting to be positive, hoping that there is no storm,” she stated.
” With these classes, we feel more positive in providing quality care if there is a rise.”
