HEALTHY LIVING
Beyond Bricks
by Jeffrey B. Roth + photos by Chris Jackson
CHAMBERSBURG HOSPITAL’ S NEW KING STREET ADDITION IS DESIGNED FOR PERSONALIZED PATIENT SERVICES.
Chambersburg Hospital’ s new King Street Addition features 171 private patient rooms— a key feature for improving doctor-patient communication and allowing family members to stay with patients— as well as expanded cardiac catheterization labs. High-tech nursing stations( below) further enhance the patients’ level of quiet privacy.
Nurses and patients alike have quickly realized why the new King Street Addition of Chambersburg Hospital raises the bar of personalized, quality care for Franklin County-area residents. Critical Care Nurse Manager Teresa Napier, RN, began her healthcare career 26 years ago at Chambersburg Hospital as a CNA( certified nursing assistant), and over the years completed her LPN and RN education.“ I’ ve always been in a critical care setting,” the Chambersburg native says.“ To be honest, I never wanted to go anywhere else. Everything that I like and want to do is right here.” The addition’ s new design was a big change, Teresa says.“ We went from an 18-bed critical care unit, where we could easily see every patient [ and ] coming here, we realized with the big patient rooms, we wouldn’ t be able to see them all, so we had to adjust to the new space.” But technology is the critical link to providing specialized, individual care, she says, and a computerized nursing nook affords a level of quiet privacy and personal patient care that is unheard of in a traditional semiprivate room setting.
The nurses love the space, she says, adding that in the past month or so, they have seen a dramatic increase in the number of patient family members who stay overnight in the rooms. The larger, family-friendly rooms facilitate a faster patient recovery time, says Sherri Stahl, senior vice president of hospital services. The length of a hospital stay may range from overnight to three to five days on average, and Sherri says patients do significantly better when their family can be involved in the process. Private rooms
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