HUTCHINSON — Hutchinson Regional Medical Center dedicated a new state-of-the-art, high tech 25,000-square-foot Intensive Care Unit on Thursday, Aug. 16, with a public ribbon cutting. The new ICU replaces one built in 1975 as part of the original hospital construction. The hospital upgrade ranks as the fourth largest construction project in Hutchinson’s history, said Ken Johnson, president and CEO.
Intensive Care Units were implemented in military hospitals during the early 1950s by the nation’s Armed Forces to treat seriously injured soldiers during the Korean War with positive results exceeding their greatest expectations. Soon, a national group of health-care professionals suggested that what worked well for the military in war time might produce similar results in civilian-run hospitals.
Dr. Jack Wortman arrived in Hutchinson on July 1, 1966 — the first day Medicare was available — to begin a 30-year career as a practicing physician. Early in his career, in approximately 1967, Dr. Wortman spearheaded an effort to establish an ICU within Hutchinson’s two’s hospitals, Grace and St. Elizabeth. In a recent conversation with Dr. Wortman, he recalled that four rooms were set aside at each hospital for the ICU and each facility purchased several pieces of monitoring equipment including a defibulator.
Today, ICUs cater to patients with severe and life-threatening illnesses and injuries who require close monitoring and support from special equipment and medication to ensure normal bodily functions. These units are staffed by highly trained physicians and nurses who specialize in caring for critically ill or injured persons.
ICUs differ from other hospital wards, with a higher staff-to-patient ratio and access to advanced medical resources and equipment not routinely available elsewhere.
Patients arriving in a hospital’s Emergency Department may be transferred to the ICU if their condition deteriorates or if the patient is at a high risk for complications following surgery.
The $23 million project is funded in part through a $4 million contribution from the Hutchinson Regional Medical Foundation. Approximately $6 million of the total was designated for an upgrade in the hospital’s electrical grid and other systems. Municipal bonds have been issued to cover the remaining costs and will not result in additional taxes for Hutchinson residents, Johnson said.
A committee of hospital employees collaborated on the plans for the new ICU with a round design creating a more patient friendly environment as it gives nurses a direct line of sight in the facility. Eighteen patient rooms, nearly double the size of the previous ICU rooms, are designed with spacious, family waiting areas and each room has a window.
Nurse stations are located outside of each room rather than in the center, which provides a quicker response time to patient needs and the ability to document patient conditions more closely.
Other features include a nurse call system enabling information sharing across multiple systems, which will assist in reducing errors, improving performance, and eliminating wasted time and effort. A new Telemetry system will allow physicians to remotely view their patients’ heart rhythms.
The rooms feature over-the-head booms rather than lines coming out of the wall that were previously used to run cables and tubing, allowing nurses to access patients easier.
A $2 million Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unit was installed proximate to the ICU during July. The Siemen’s Magnetom Aera 48 Coil 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner is the most advanced MRI technology in South Central Kansas, including Wichita, and is capable of producing incredibly high-resolution images of internal organs-particularly the heart, intestines, and prostate, Johnson said. A Hutchinson Regional Medical Foundation donation will cover the $2.7 million cost for the MRI and building.
Nabholz Corporation, a Mid-Western construction company, was the general contractor for the project; Health Facilities Group was the architect while Kruse Corporation was in charge of system improvements. Both are Wichita based companies. Whenever possible, local work crews were hired by the contractors. Heineken Electric, a Beloit company, installed the electrical upgrades.
The new ICU will complement the HRMC Emergency Department which was opened in January, 2015.
Wes Hoyt, the Chief Operating Officer for Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System, has overseen the 19 month project which was completed four months ahead of schedule.
