Client News: One-Bed, One-Stay Heart Hospital Announced - Trinity Mother Frances Hospital

By DAYNA WORCHEL, Staff Writer - Tyler Morning Telegraph

Imagine a heart hospital where a patient remains in the same bed from the beginning of his treatment through surgery, recovery and release, and the family is actively encouraged to be a part of the patient's healing process by staying in the same room.

This wish will become a reality later this year for heart patients at a Tyler hospital with construction getting under way now for The Heart Hospital at Trinity Mother Frances, officials announced on Thursday.

The 24-bed, state-of-the-art cardiac unit, which will cost about $3 million to construct, will be on the fourth floor of the Mother Frances Hospital-Tyler's Ornelas Tower, John Moore, hospital spokesman said. The current Heart Institute has 14 beds, he said. The funds for the new unit already were a part of the hospital's budget, Moore said.

The unit will be based on a modified universal-bed model, said Trinity Mother Frances' Chief of Cardiology Dr. C. Fagg Sanford III.

"Every heart patient will have a dedicated room throughout their hospital experience, and families are encouraged to be of a part of this process -- the patient doesn't move, we will move," he said.

The patient will arrive, and surgery and recovery will happen in the same unit, Dr. Sanford said. All of the equipment and monitors used in a cardiac intensive care room will fold away when they are no longer needed so that the patient recovers in a regular room.

Patient safety is the chief concern in constructing The Heart Hospital based on the universal-bed model, Dr. Sanford said.

"When a patient is transferred, people must communicate and there are delays -- this eliminates those delays," he said.

The new unit is the culmination of one and one-half years of planning, and the goal of the program is to integrate all phases of patient care, Dr. Sanford said.

Dr. Bill Turner, Trinity Clinic Cardiothoracic Surgery, said he has performed more than 250 robotic heart surgeries since 2004, including bypass and heart valve surgeries. He said the nurses in the new Heart Hospital are all trained to work in a cardiac intensive care unit, and can provide all the levels of care. He said he is excited about the Heart Hospital concept.

"As a heart surgeon, I am very pleased to see the continuing commitment Trinity Mother Frances is making to heart patients," Dr. Turner said.

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