Avera St. Luke’s Medical Care Division Showcases Redesign, Remodel

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Completion of Avera St. Luke’s Hospital’s Third Floor - Medical Care Division remodeling and redesign was celebrated with a May 9 open house. This event included tours, discussion of upgrades and patient-focused improvements, plus refreshments. A blessing and ribbon-cutting ceremony were also held. 

The $1.2 million project is highlighted by decentralized nurses’ stations and a new floor design that increases effectiveness in the delivery of care, improves patient safety, reduces staff stress, and ultimately improves outcomes and the overall quality of health care that Avera St. Luke’s provides. 

“The current design focuses on ensuring a positive patient and family experience,” said Val Christians, a registered nurse who helped lead Avera St. Luke’s nurses who studied the division’s needs and traffic flow and worked on the redesign. The patient-focused unit now has new calm and soothing family waiting rooms, improving the overall aesthetics, she added. Visitors are greeted by a spacious family sitting area as they get off the elevator.

“We have created an improved overall patient care environment with the main goal of providing decentralized nursing stations, so that the caregivers will work in closer proximity to the patients,” said Jim Dobbs, director of Avera St. Luke’s Plant Operations. “Our Medical Care Division now features a modern design second to none.”

The nurses’ stations include “big board” patient status display monitors to improve customer care, efficiency, coordination and communications. For patients and families, the improvements:

• Increase patient privacy
• Decrease noise and reduce sleep/rest interruptions
• Boost patient safety by having nurses closer to patient rooms
• Minimize stress to patient and families
• Provide new calm and soothing family lounges
• Help overall aesthetics

For nurses, doctors and hospital staff, the new design:

• Brings them closer to patients
• Provides shorter walking distances to patient rooms, stations and supplies (nurses now average 2 miles per day, instead of 8!)
• Improves the physical work environment with improved work flow and better organization
• Technologically is up- to-date for Electronic Medical Records
• Is ergonomically friendly