Posted: 11/25/2013
Construction of patient rooms for the Burn Intensive Care Unit
(BICU) is now finished in the acute care tower on the new
Parkland campus.
The new Parkland Burn Center will include 12 intensive care and 18
acute care beds, an increase from the current nine intensive care and 17
acute care beds. Established in 1962, it is the second largest civilian burn
center in the nation, providing care to more than 1,600 patients
each year.
Christine Owens Lane, Unit Manager III, BICU, said one of the biggest
challenges she faces in the current hospital is trying to find separate
rooms for adult male, female and child patients. Patients often have to
share rooms, but they still must be separated by gender and children
can’t be placed with adults.
“Currently, if we’re full, we have to overflow to 6 West,” Christine
said. “From what I’ve seen, all the rooms in the new hospital will be
private. That will help.”
Though construction is complete, equipment and furniture
still need to be installed. The burn unit is equipped with special
isolation rooms that allow use of negative air pressure to keep
contaminants and pathogens from reaching other patients,
staff and visitors. Each isolation room includes an anteroom
to provide a space for the caregivers and family members to
wash up before and after entering the patient room. Including
these rooms in the design of the new hospital is further proof of
Parkland’s commitment to safe, quality care for all patients.
The new Parkland hospital is scheduled to be completed
in August 2014 and open to the public in 2015. For more
information on new Parkland construction, please visit:
www.parklandhospital.com/newparkland.