Written by Lasondria Hill

PMI Atlanta’s October Healthcare Forum was treated to a fascinating tour of an operating room during construction. Deitra Erickson, Operating Room Manager at Grady Memorial Hospital, was the speaker for the evening and gave an engaging presentation detailing the challenges and processes involved with constructing not one but 18 new operating rooms at Piedmont Hospital, where Deitra formerly worked.

Founded in 1905, Piedmont Atlanta Hospital began as a 132-bed, five-story annex. Today, it’s a 488-bed acute tertiary care facility that has more than 4,000 employees and more than 1,100 physicians.
Deitra has worked in the operating room since 1993 and has held various leadership positions, both in the U.S. and abroad, since 2001. She has served as a clinical liaison for many construction projects, most notably a three-year reconstruction of the entire perioperative services at Piedmont.

Deitra began her presentation by identifying the challenges associated with the construction project:
    1. Started with 20 operating rooms
    2. Construct 18 new operating rooms
    3. Keep 19 operating rooms operational
    4. 36-month completion schedule
    5. Maintain the highest level of infection control
    6. Keep the peace

 

This extraordinary project extended beyond the operating rooms to include PACU/post-op, pre-op/AM admit, as well as increasing square footage for storage and equipment. Needless to say, the project required extensive planning through each phase.

The original project schedule included 23 phases, with a timeline of December 2006 to November 2009. However, the actual schedule consisted of 57 phases and was completed in mid-December 2009. Even with an extended completion date and 450 changes to the scope of work, infection control was maintained throughout the project, and the owner saw a 1.5% cost savings.

Deitra noted that communication was crucial to move this project forward and for it to be successful—especially when dealing with patient care and infection control while supporting a hospital staff in saving lives in the midst of a construction zone for three years. Daily meetings helped keep everyone informed, ensure nothing was lost in translation and keep the project on track.

Key takeaways from the project:
    1. Communication is key.
    2. Trust your team.
    3. Flexibility is a must.

Deitra concluded her presentation with a question and answer session, and Gray Terry closed the meeting by thanking Deitra and the Healthcare Forum participants.

Please join us Wednesday, November 16 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. as the Healthcare and Technology Forums combine for the final forum of 2016! This forum will consist of a keynote presentation and a roundtable discussion.

Keynote Presentation: "A Glimpse of How Data, Analytics and Cognitive Computing is Changing the World" presented by Nancy Berlin, IBM Analytics - Big Data
Roundtable Discussion: Focus will be on topics and speakers and where Technology and Healthcare should continue to conduct joint forums.


Location: Philips Healthcare
PHA Academy
One Deerfield Centre
13560 Morris Road
Alpharetta, GA 30004