{"id":60882,"date":"2021-02-22T16:00:47","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T21:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=60882"},"modified":"2023-06-08T10:20:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T14:20:32","slug":"new-unit-adds-forty-hospital-beds-to-help-increase-capacity-reduce-wait-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/new-unit-adds-forty-hospital-beds-to-help-increase-capacity-reduce-wait-times\/","title":{"rendered":"New unit adds forty hospital beds to help increase capacity, reduce wait times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Forty hospital beds. An impressively high \u201ccathedral\u201d ceiling. A bright, warm and organized space. In some ways, this new unit looks much like other inpatient units in the main building of The Ottawa Hospital, but it has something a little extra: an undeniable energy that comes from knowing you are part of something new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Meeting community needs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Offload Medicine Transition Unit (OMTU) is a new 40-bed temporary structure located at the Civic Campus of The Ottawa Hospital.&nbsp; Funded by the provincial government and constructed in just nine weeks, the OMTU will help expand hospital capacity, decrease ambulance offload times for paramedics and get patients into hospital beds faster once admitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It welcomed its first patient on January 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Inside the OMTU<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"responsivevideo\"><iframe title=\"Inside the offload medicine transition unit at Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3Aa--d1StnQ?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0\" width=\"740\" height=\"320\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The OMTU includes its own ambulance intake for patient offloading, an infection control isolation room, four staff stations, a staff lounge, washroom facilities and showers. It has proper air ventilation and is fully climate controlled<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each patient bay has oxygen and suction, a nurse call system, and emergency power. Like the main hospital, the OMTU has modern medical technology, wi-fi for patients and wired internet connections for computers on site that are connected EPIC, the hospital information system. Staff and patients can access the main hospital\u2019s Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) through an above-ground tunnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The staff at the OMTU include doctors, nurses, registered practical nurses, physiotherapists, social workers, orderlies and others that you might expect inside any other patient unit. Staff supporting the OMTU underwent simulation training for emergency code calls before the unit opened, just as they would have before opening any other new unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Patient experience a priority<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the focus was on maximizing safety and care, the patient experience was also a priority. Each patient bay is slightly bigger than what you would typically see in the emergency department. Stretchers are fitted with thick gel mattresses. There are hooks for coats and shelves in each bay for belongings. There is a dimmable light above the bed and a whiteboard on the wall to keep important information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"740\" height=\"330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Patient_Bay_Inside_The_Ottawa_Hospitals_OMTU.jpg\" alt=\"A patient bay inside the OMTU\" class=\"wp-image-60886\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Patient_Bay_Inside_The_Ottawa_Hospitals_OMTU.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Patient_Bay_Inside_The_Ottawa_Hospitals_OMTU-600x268.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Patient_Bay_Inside_The_Ottawa_Hospitals_OMTU-300x134.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>The patient\u2019s experience was an important part in designing the layout of each patient bay<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was really impressive, how high the ceilings were, how everything came together in nine weeks,\u201d said Kyle &nbsp;Gantner, Acting Clinical Manager for the OMTU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPatients seem to like the semi-open concept,\u201d said Jeanne Millons, Acting Clinical Care Leader for the OMTU. \u201cThe rooms don\u2019t have a roof over each of them, so there are things to look at if you want to be distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gantner and Millons each lay down in patient beds themselves before the unit was open to get a first-hand view of what it would be like for a patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"740\" height=\"330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Kyle_Gatner_and_Jeanne_Millons_inside_The-OMTU.jpg\" alt=\"Kyle Gantner and Jeanne Millons\" class=\"wp-image-60888\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Kyle_Gatner_and_Jeanne_Millons_inside_The-OMTU.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Kyle_Gatner_and_Jeanne_Millons_inside_The-OMTU-600x268.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Kyle_Gatner_and_Jeanne_Millons_inside_The-OMTU-300x134.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kyle<em> Gantner (left) and Jeanne Millons are part of a large team dedicated to providing world-class care to patients in the OMTU<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the semi-open concept, patients in the OMTU can still feel a sense of privacy. Sound does not carry easily between patient bays or into the corridor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Teamwork brings the design to life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The concept, design, layout, construction and ultimate operation of the OMTU was the result of impressive teamwork from many groups and individuals. Kathleen McGarragle is the Emergency Management Officer at The Ottawa Hospital and co-project manager for the unit. She and Dwight Breault, Senior Project Manager of Capital Projects, led the project on behalf of the hospital. They worked closely with Colliers, Infrastructure Ontario\/The Ministry of Health, BLT Construction, and several design and consulting firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"740\" height=\"330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/The_Offload_Medicine_Transition_Unit_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital.jpg\" alt=\"An exterior picture of the OMTU\" class=\"wp-image-60890\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/The_Offload_Medicine_Transition_Unit_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/The_Offload_Medicine_Transition_Unit_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital-600x268.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/The_Offload_Medicine_Transition_Unit_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital-300x134.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>The OMTU includes its own ambulance intake for patient offloading, an infection control isolation room, four staff stations, and other amenities. It is connected to the Civic Campus Emergency Department and ICU via an above-ground tunnel<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Many hospital departments and teams offered their expertise and support as well. Hospital leadership, clinical teams, Emergency Management, Capital Projects, Facilities, Planning, Infection Prevention and Control, Care Environment Transportation, Environmental Services, Materials Management, Nutrition and Food Services, DS\/IT, Biomedical Engineering, Fusion, Parking Services, Protective Services, the Safety Office, The University of Ottawa Skills and Simulation Centre and the Simulation Patient Safety Program, the Cancer Program, Accessibility Services, Occupational Health and Wellness, the Communications Department and many others worked in concert to make sure everything came together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From a health-care standpoint, doctors, nurses, infection prevention and control experts, clinical care leaders, directors and others from the Emergency Department and inpatient units all had a hand in determining what the space would look like and how it would function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Ottawa Hospital really came together with different departments doing everything they could to help,\u201d said McGarragle. \u201cWe went live on January 4, so the biggest push was over the holiday period.&nbsp; That means a lot of people worked extra hard to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read added, \u201cIt\u2019s a great example of living our vision of providing world-class care, exceptional service and compassion just as we would want for our loved ones. Everyone worked together to achieve a goal that would support our patients and our teams, especially during a very challenging time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A strong community partnership<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Another important element to the project\u2019s success was the partnership between the hospital and the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven though we knew that the OMTU would be a great benefit to the community overall, we recognized that constructing it would have an impact on the local community,\u201d said Joanne Read, Executive Vice-President of Planning and Development for The Ottawa Hospital. \u201cWe wanted to establish open lines of communication throughout the project to make sure that the community had a voice and we could try to minimize any impact on them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"740\" height=\"330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Offload_Transition_Medicine_Unit_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital_While_Under_Construction.jpg\" alt=\"The OMTU in the middle of construction\" class=\"wp-image-60892\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Offload_Transition_Medicine_Unit_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital_While_Under_Construction.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Offload_Transition_Medicine_Unit_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital_While_Under_Construction-600x268.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Offload_Transition_Medicine_Unit_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital_While_Under_Construction-300x134.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Community and other partnerships, as well as the support of many hospital departments and teams helped this project come together quickly and support the needs of the community<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The project team also worked with hospital departments and services that would be impacted most by the construction, including the Academic Family Health Team and programs in Grimes Lodge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Constant and open communications was a priority from the start and contributed to the project\u2019s success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy objective was to make sure that everyone that was supposed to be included was included,\u201d said McGarragle.&nbsp; \u201cIf I needed to follow up with a group or team, I did, without fail, every time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A special atmosphere<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Opening a new hospital unit is a special occasion, and it often comes with a sense of excitement among staff.&nbsp; That is especially true in this case because the staff were engaged in the design of the OMTU from the very beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>It was really impressive, how high the ceilings were, how everything came together in nine weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cWe were part of building something from the ground up,\u201d said Milions. \u201cFrom construction, to making decisions about how the room looks, to hiring and onboarding a whole new staff, it kind of feels like we are in this together in this new journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gantner feels the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe got to start from the beginning. We get to build a team and work as a team as the OMTU evolves.&nbsp; I think, for me, that\u2019s what makes the OMTU special. We get to set it up together and work together to make it a very good environment for both the patients and the staff.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that sense of shared purpose has carried over into the culture in the unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have a very positive team,: adds Gantner. Staff are very engaged.&nbsp; Its an environment open to change. We focus a lot on teamwork.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A culture of constant improvement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though the OMTU has been open for a little more than a month, the staff have settled into a groove. Still, staff are continuously looking for opportunities to improve how they deliver care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"740\" height=\"330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Workstation_Inside_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital.jpg\" alt=\"A desk with computers, monitors and telephones in the OMTU\" class=\"wp-image-60894\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Workstation_Inside_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Workstation_Inside_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital-600x268.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Workstation_Inside_OMTU_at_The_Ottawa_Hospital-300x134.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>The OMTU contains modern workstations, care equipment and technology, including EPIC, the digital health information system.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s evolving on a daily basis,\u201d said Gantner. \u201cWe\u2019ve evolved lots of things. From the layout of supplies and the types of supplies we use, to how nurses and registered practical nurses work together to provide safe patient care. We lean on staff a lot to figure out what works best for them. We let them guide the evolution and we help facilitate change to make their space theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Here to serve the community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The benefits to the community are many.&nbsp; Its 40 beds help free up beds in the Emergency Department and on inpatient floors for patients who need that specialty care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The OMTU will help to ensure that our community gets the care that they want and they deserve\u201d said Millons. \u201cIt\u2019s a success story for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it wouldn\u2019t have happened without an incredible amount of support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThank you to everyone, the community, the staff, the patients, the project managers, everyone involved in planning and construction,\u201d said Read. \u201cIt is safe, it is clean, it is warm, it is comfortable. We hope you never need to visit the OMTU yourself or with a loved one, but if you do, know that it is there for you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Constructed in just nine weeks, a new 40-bed temporary structure at The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s Civic Campus will help increase capacity and reduce ambulance offload times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":60883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[372,67,381],"class_list":["post-60882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-covid-19","tag-innovation","tag-patient-experience"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}