Hospital Buyer

Last week The Children’s Hospital (TCH) in Denver, Colorado previewed its new facility scheduled to open a year from now. The new 270-bed hospital will reside on 48 acres, occupy 1.44 million square feet, feature all private patient rooms with sleeping space for two adults, and offer more amenities for families such as lounges, additional sleep rooms, a library and business center, and a teen center with a range of entertainment and learning activities. The new building is designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership (ZGF), a firm which already designed several pediatric hospitals in California, Texas and other states. The Denver Post reposts that $25 million out of the $600 million spent on the project are dedicated to information technologies including:

• wireless Internet access throughout the hospital.
• In-room televisions with Internet access and video on demand.
• Beside hand-held devices nurses will use to check patients’ medication levels.

The nurse-call system is part of the overhaul. Patients will be able to ask for water or assistance through two-way communications directly with the nursing desk. This will comfort them in knowing their request is going to be taken care of. It is also a way to assign some tasks to nursing assistants when registered nurses are not needed. Networking equipment maker Cisco seems to be strongly involved in the overall IT infrastructure being deployed, though the Post didn’t detail to what extent.

Related story: AIA 2006 Guidelines Include Single-Bed Rooms.

October 20, 2006 Related topics: Facilities, Contract Awards, IT & software