Preparing Critical Care and Medical-Surgical Nurses to Open a New Hospital.

Building a new hospital is an exciting time. However significant planning is required to prepare staff to assume care of patients in an environment with new workflow changes and new equipment. The challenges of this advanced preparation are compounded when the opening of the new hospital includes the planned move of the inpatient census of patients from an existing hospital to the new hospital.

Safety First! Using a Checklist for Intrafacility Transport of Adult Intensive Care Patients.

Background: Adult critical care patients in an academic medical center experienced adverse events during intrafacility transport resulting from lack of preparation. An intervention was needed to help keep patients safe during intrafacility transport.

Objective: To develop a checklist for transport that is easy to use and effective in preparing patients for transport.

Rising to the challenge: transforming an adult ICU into an adult and pediatric ICU.

Published literature on natural disasters describes lessons learned in preparing for disasters, evacuating patients, and caring for patients in the immediate aftermath. Some disasters, however, require longer-term solutions to best meet the health needs of the community during the recovery from the disaster. This article presents an account of one academic medical center's experience in transforming an existing adult burn intensive care unit into an adult and pediatric burn intensive care unit to meet the needs of a community following a hurricane.