Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center built a 24-bed neuro ICU in
2016 to accommodate a growing census and acuity of patients
housed in the older 11-bed ICU that was an open bay design
with limited space or privacy for family presence. In addition to
learning from designs of other new ICUs built across the country,
the hospital leadership partnered with former patients and family
members to understand their perspective and experiences in
care. The new unit design incorporated their feedback to ensure
we created a healing, nurturing environment that highlight the
advancements in critical care technology as well as our emphasis
on patient and family centric care.
The unit provides several accommodations that encourage family
presence and participation in patient care. A common family
lounge provides eating space, lockers, showers, a kitchenette,
a washer/dryer and other amenities for families and caregivers
of patients. This allows for families to have some normalcy in
their life if they are anxious about leaving the premises. Two
conference rooms are built for private discussions with family
Wake Forest
Neuro ICU Brings
Innovation in
Simulation in
Testing a New ICU
By Aarti Sarwal, Janet Crumpler and Terri Gordon
with teleconference and audiovisual capabilities to allow sharing
important medical information with family long distances away
and sharing images and pertinent information from medical
records to help them understand the complexities of neurocritical
care issues such as stroke, hemorrhage, seizures or surgery.
The clinical areas populate the periphery of the unit allowing
natural sunlight in each patient room. Each room also has a builtin
shower and a sofa that is transformed into a sleeping couch
at night for family present within the patient room. Ambient
lighting in the rooms is intensity controlled, limiting bright light
only for procedures. The acoustics of the room allow minimal
dispersion of noise from alarms in between neighboring rooms.
Such strategies prevent circadian rhythm disturbances and serve as
delirium prevention strategies.
For clinical providers, the unit provides latest infrastructure for
nursing and respiratory care that improves patient care as well as
provider wellness. Three hundred sixty degree “booms” in each
room provide all electronic, nursing and gas connections. These
can move around the bed and avoid any connections for wires,
lines and tubing to the walls enabling the nurses to efficiently
care for patients. Infection prevention strategies like copperenhanced
surfaces eliminate bacteria and reduce hospital acquired
infections. Ceiling lifts in each room allow efficient and safe early
mobilization of each patient.
A nursing station between each pair of rooms is equipped with
computers and paired live monitors. This allows nursing staff to
keep a close eye on both patients while charting. With the unit
Aarti Sarwal Janet Crumpler Terri Gordon
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