ICU Design Award — co-sponsored by AACN, the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the American Institute of Architects — recognizes an intensive care unit that successfully combines functional design with humanitarian delivery of care.
ALISO VIEJO, Calif. – June 25, 2020 – The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) will present the annual ICU Design Citation to the pediatric intensive care units at Texas Children’s Hospital’s Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower, Houston.
Legacy Tower’s pediatric intensive care units includes 84 private patient rooms, dedicated neurological and cardiac ICU rooms, surgical ICU rooms and a transitional ICU. The new patient rooms are almost triple the size of the previous rooms and have improved the patient and caregiver experience, as well as made work more efficient for staff.
The patient rooms include dedicated furniture for family members to stay overnight in the room. Staff have large locker rooms, a respite room and bigger workrooms for nurses and providers. Consult rooms were added on every floor for private conversations, with video capabilities that allow all family members to participate. Each inpatient room also has a custom-built display that lists the patient’s personalized needs and restrictions for all those entering the room.
The inpatient pediatric tower is the realization of the CareFirst at Texas Children’s initiative that Texas Children’s launched in 2014 to ensure the hospital’s ability to care for children who need their specialized services. Expanded inpatient and outpatient capabilities help Texas Children’s serve more children with critical congenital heart conditions. A new helistop atop the tower — specially designed to screen the view of the pad — means the most critically ill children receive care rapidly.
The award — co-sponsored by AACN, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, Mount Prospect, Illinois, and the Committee on Architecture for Health of the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco — recognizes ICUs that successfully combine functional design with humanitarian delivery of care.
Texas Children’s Hospital and the CannonDesign team received the award at the 2020 Society for Critical Care Medicine’s annual conference.
About the National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition: Established in 1974, AACN’s National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition (NTI) represents the world’s largest educational conference and trade show for nurses who care for acutely and critically ill patients and their families. Bedside nurses, nurse educators, nurse managers, clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners attend NTI.
About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, with more than 120,000 members and over 200 chapters in the United States.
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 27071 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; 949-362-2000; www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme