PROVENA MERCY MEDICAL CENTER | INTENSIVE CARE UNIT RELOCATION

LOCATION: AURORA, ILLINOIS

16,000 SF

Provena Mercy Medical Center completed a 16,000 sf renovation/relocation project for its ICU, which was previously located on the fifth floor of the hospital where patient flow from the OR's was a major concern.  The new ICU is located on the first floor in an area that previously housed OR’s and surgery support space and is now adjacent to the new surgery addition.

The new unit features 16 private rooms, decentralized nursing stations, support space, a conference room, offices, equipment storage and waiting areas.  Each room is generously sized at over 250 sf, each with its own toilet area. The room provides a separate zone for family and nursing and is equipped with mobile computer workstations for bedside charting with an EICU monitoring system. The interior design of the space uses wood-look vinyl flooring; light colored wood finishes on the furnishings and a sage green color for the walls. Lighting is provided with a lay-in fixture over the bed that functions as an exam light/reading light.  Down-lights are used throughout the rest of the room to provide different levels of lighting depending on the time of day.

The ICU unit itself is L-shaped due to the existing building design, making for a long, spread-out footprint. By employing a decentralized nursing station concept,  each station accommodates two nurses and utilizes an open architecture plan that allows direct visualization to both other nursing stations and directly into each patient room.  This new hybrid concept solves the isolation problems of a typical decentralized nursing station.  The nursing station has an open peninsula desk rather than a counter to provide less of a separation barrier between the patient, his/her family and the nurse providing care. There are four patient rooms sized and designated for heart patients. These are linked directly to the Heart Rooms in the OR.

The support spaces consist of clean and soiled utility, medications, nourishment, MD dictation, blood gas, offices and a conference area, all within the unit. There is a large equipment room and multiple cart alcoves located off the patient corridors to ensure the corridors are not used for storage.  There is sconce lighting on the patient side and indirect linear lighting in the soffit above the nursing station, both on the patient corridor side and the nursing station side. This provides various levels of lighting and allows the nurses to dim the corridors at night to provide a better sleeping environment for patients, while still being able to control the light at the nursing station. There are two family sleep rooms, each with its own bathroom/shower facilities for family members who are spending long days/nights at the Hospital.