Healthcare Design - March 2016 - 50

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Stage 2
Stage 2 primarily involved the equipping and prepping of patient care units at the new hospital. This
stage began just days prior to activation and was
based on the identification of units and services
that would need to be on line at the first moment
the new facility would open.
This required that active patient care units at the
existing facility free up as much equipment as possible to be moved and placed at the new hospital
upon opening while minimizing any impacts to operations or services. Since it had been determined
early in the process that there could be little to no
service disruptions during the transition, the team
and clinical leadership had to develop a strategy to
maximize both the medical equipment and human
resources needed to bring the facility on line.
While it was vital to equip the new facility, some
things had to remain at the old site to keep it functional. The challenge was determining exactly what
to move and when, so the team used the following
process to tackle the challenge:
* Determine which services were mandatory to be
on line in the new hospital to provide care to all
patient types that could present on day one.
* Determine where patient care could be consolidated among inpatient units and clinical support
areas.
* Determine the number of inpatient units necessary to serve "new" incoming patients as well as
transfer patients from the existing facility.
These areas were prioritized to be outfitted and/
or equipped to serve the immediate needs of the
new facility, with the process repeated to prioritize
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the activation of the second- and third-day units to
accommodate new and transfer patients. With the
essential Day 1 units determined, the facility could
then plan for the patient unit relocation sequence,
which was based on needs, availability of equipped
units, and logistical considerations. For example,
the first unit to relocate was the postpartum unit, as

Staff transfers patients from
the old facility to the New
Parkland Hospital.

this unit was in the direct path of travel for patients
to reach the new facility. The remaining units then
were relocated in pairs of dissimilar units, to allow
for a more efficient relocation.
One of the greatest risks in a multiday/phased
move of this magnitude is staffing coverage and
maintaining optimal care for all patients throughout
the transition. With the development of the patient
relocation plan above, the Parkland clinical and
transition team was able to ensure that the staffing
and care needs for each patient population were
maintained.
Stage 3
Stage 3 consisted of the actual opening of the new
hospital, beginning with the ED and the start of
patient relocations. All patient care units identified in Stage 2 would be staffed and operational,
which required some dual operations between sites
until patient relocations were completed. In order
to reduce the duration of dual operations, no new
patients were admitted to the existing facility once
the new facility had opened.
A three-day patient relocation was planned to restrict the transfer of patients to a specific window of
time each day and to accommodate the equipment
relocation/reuse plan. Relocation of 626 patients
was completed in just two days, nearly 30 hours
ahead of initial projections.
Relocating patients is always the greatest risk in
any move. While it's common for patient relocation
to be completed ahead of schedule, it's usually by
a matter of minutes or a few hours, depending on
the number being transferred. Having the ability to
significantly reduce the patient move, as was the
case at Parkland, can lessen a number of risks associated with staff fatigue and dual operations.
Completing the transition ahead of schedule was

PARKLAND HEALTH & HOSPITAL SYSTEM

lowed staff to become familiar with the new facility.
Some examples of Stage 1 moves include materials
receiving and distribution, police, limited lab functions, desktop support, and offices. A potential risk
for departments relocating in Stage 1 was losing the
ability to efficiently support daily operations. Careful
consideration was given to each department that
would relocate during this time to ensure that there
would be no impact felt during the three weeks of
remote operations.
An example of this was in planning the relocation
of a portion of the lab. It was understood early on
that Parkland performs an extraordinary amount of
lab processing each day and maintaining optimal
efficiency could be a challenge during the transition.
Some lab equipment could take weeks to validate
prior to use. To solve and prevent a potential pitfall,
Parkland's clinical staff and transition team devised
a plan that allowed for utilizing a mix of new and
existing equipment to maintain full lab functionality.

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Healthcare Design - March 2016

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