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Center for Advanced Healing

Enhancements to the Facility

Among the enhancements to the facility:

1. New 32-bed Intensive Care Unit
2. New nine-story patient care tower built at a capacity for 32 beds per floor
3. Private rooms that incorporate “care zones” for clinical staff and family members
4. “Smart” beds that help reduce staff injuries and enhance patient care
5. Increased square footage for the operating rooms
6. New Kissler Family Library & Research Center
7. Healing environments that take into account the benefits derived from a patient’s view out the window, the color and patterns on the wall to the healing art, to the healing arts and decor carefully
8. A new circulation route around the campus to improve access to the facilities and wayfinding

At Saint Alphonsus, we care for many of the most critically ill and injured in the region, and we are mindful of how the hospital environment can help our ability to provide quality care. Our commitment to help improve patient outcomes is underscored by our involvement in the Center for Health Design’s ‘Pebble Project’.

The Pebble Project is a research program established by The Center for Health Design and initiated with San Diego Children’s Hospital & Health Center in 2000. Saint Alphonsus and other Pebble Project members across the country track data and share evidenced-based research to demonstrate how the facility design has made a difference in the quality of care. Saint Alphonsus is one of only 19 healthcare providers across the country who are actively participating this unique project.

We know that private rooms help reduce infection rates and address confidentiality concerns, and that healing environments have a positive affect on a patient’s outcome. The opportunity is not only in our ability to improve how care is delivered in Idaho, but to illustrate how a leading institution in Boise can also serve as a catalyst for improvements that other healthcare institutions across the country can emulate. Our goal –and that of the Pebble Project – is to create the “ripple” so that others may design facilities that are proven to positively affect patient care.

Other enhancements for the hospital include the addition of sixteen new operating rooms. Additional OR’s will have a positive impact on our efficiencies and delivery of surgical services. Also, the size and design of the new operating rooms are intended to enhance patient safety, accelerate patient recovery time and reduce the chance of infection. A special air-handling system will reduce patient exposure to airborne impurities by periodically replacing the air in each room. In addition, the renovation factors in the growing need and space requirements for technology.

Also included are upgrades to some of the floors in the existing South and North Towers. These include improvements to waiting room spaces, upgrades to utility and emergency services, and building the new Central Tower.

E-mail inquiries: vision2010@sarmc.org

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