Renovations are underway at UF Health Shands Hospital
Vacated space supports expansion and improvements for care
Now that the UF Health Heart & Vascular and Neuromedicine hospitals are open, plans are underway to best use the space at UF Health Shands Hospital vacated by these services. After great consideration, renovations and improvements have begun to help UF Health fulfill the anticipated needs of our patients and community.
LONG-TERM ACUTE CARE
The fifth floor of UF Health Shands Hospital is under renovation to become a long-term acute care hospital-within-a-hospital. Following hospital discharge, some patients benefit from extended specialty care and LTACHs fill this need. On July 31, Select Specialty Hospital – Gainesville, the LTACH currently located on Archer Road, will move into the updated fifth-floor space. It’s the next step in our relationship with Select Medical, which began in 2016. Faculty and staff are invited to an open house the afternoon of July 30. Stay tuned for details in Shands News.
OBSTETRICS
During the first phase of renovation and modernization of the Labor and Delivery Unit, eight state-of-the-art Labor-Delivery-Recovery rooms will be constructed, along with additional nursing and physician workspace and physician call rooms recently vacated by the former Neonatal ICU. Unit 35 also will expand.
Postpartum patients will be served on Unit 95, which features all private rooms.
The remainder of Unit 35 will then become an antepartum unit, where the team will be able to monitor high-risk, non-laboring patients.
These renovations will include birthing rooms equipped with relaxation tubs for laboring patients.
These renovations will create an ideal patient experience for obstetric patients with all levels of care available: Patients can choose from a low-risk midwife delivery experience to the highest-intensity obstetrical care for women with complicated pregnancies.
Once completed, the Labor and Delivery Unit will give the team capacity to perform over 3,500 deliveries a year in modern facilities that will be comfortable for patients and their families.
EXPANDED MEDICAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT AND INTERMEDIATE MEDICAL CARE
Formerly the Neuromedicine ICU, Unit 82 will become a 30-bed Medical ICU and Intermediate Care Unit.
Our last expansion of the MICU Unit 24 in 2016 had a very positive impact in reducing E.R. patient wait times for ICU beds. Unit 24 recently moved to the expanded unit on 82, adding six additional beds.
Patients in the MICU/IMC typically require specialized care and attention. This move will allow staff to care for patients in private rooms configured for more intensive care.
NEW BURN AND SURGICAL CARE UNIT
Our eight-bed Burn ICU on the seventh floor, adjacent to the primary burn surgical suite, serves more than 600 patients each year. We could meet a higher demand with more space. Burn patients who do not require critical care currently are admitted to the 10th floor. In addition, our surgical floors receive many patients with complex ENT procedures requiring specialized care.
Planned renovation will result in a new 27-bed, modern Burn and Surgical Care Unit on the second floor (in space that formerly housed the Cardiac ICU and Unit 24).
The new unit will be adjacent to our hospital ORs, allowing for operational and staffing efficiencies for our surgical and anesthesiology teams. The beds will flex between ICU beds and Medical/Surgical beds as needed, minimizing patient movement.
Patients who have complex reconstructive surgery will also be monitored in this new unit.
CHILDREN’S SURGICAL SERVICES
The UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital has experienced substantial growth over the past five years, including a demand for surgical procedures. Pediatric preoperative and postoperative care requires special space to meet the unique needs for children and their families.
Renovations will add a pediatric-focused preoperative area on the second floor, as well as a postoperative recovery unit specially designed and exclusively dedicated to pediatric patients.
When completed, we expect that more than 4,000 patients per year will be cared for in this new area.
