In Their Own Words

SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center NICU & Surgery Addition

Carving out space for new ORs and NICU on existing campus

Following a planning process in 2002, this addition provides ten new operating rooms, an all-private room Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, new Central Sterile and shell space for future relocation of Radiology and Laboratory. In the surgery suite, architects addressed the need to create a platform for new technology and to provide flexibility for future change. Thus, operating rooms are designed to be reconfigured without demolition/construction to accommodate future needs and may be reassigned between surgical specialties as service volumes increase or decrease.

The NICU project needed to transition from a 44-bed open ward to 60 private patient rooms without increasing the current staffing ratio. Christner led a highly interactive process with NICU staff to better understand the implications of this change in nursing configuration. The design team built a full-scale room mock-up and simulated staff conditions to be certain that everything in the unit would function as planned.

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Size: 138,000 sf
Status: Completed 2007
Award: 2009 ASHE Vista Award for Renovation;  2007 Construction Industry Best Practice Award: Constructability, St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers

<p>Operating rooms accommodate current and future technology. A video system plays cartoons to distract children before surgery.</p>

Operating rooms accommodate current and future technology. A video system plays cartoons to distract children before surgery.

<p>The new ORs incorporate leading-edge technologies such as video integration.</p>

The new ORs incorporate leading-edge technologies such as video integration.

<p>The shared supply room is accessible directly from the ORs. Via borrowlites, natural light is available to staff working in this area.</p>

The shared supply room is accessible directly from the ORs. Via borrowlites, natural light is available to staff working in this area.

<p>All patient beds in the PACU have access to daylight via a skylight. Natural light helps to reduce stress for occupants.</p>

All patient beds in the PACU have access to daylight via a skylight. Natural light helps to reduce stress for occupants.

<p>For staffing efficiency, the control desk is located so staff can monitor the waiting room, supervise visitor handwashing and observe the entrances to the pods.</p>

For staffing efficiency, the control desk is located so staff can monitor the waiting room, supervise visitor handwashing and observe the entrances to the pods.

<p>Nurse stations in the patient corridors have direct views inside the NICU patient rooms. Glass doors along the corridors allow staff to stay connected with other members of the nursing team.</p>

Nurse stations in the patient corridors have direct views inside the NICU patient rooms. Glass doors along the corridors allow staff to stay connected with other members of the nursing team.

<p>Private NICU patient rooms are a radical departure from the former ward-style unit.</p>

Private NICU patient rooms are a radical departure from the former ward-style unit.

<p>Because the NICU room would be replicated for 56 rooms (including four twin rooms), space and detail within each room needed to be tightly crafted.</p>

Because the NICU room would be replicated for 56 rooms (including four twin rooms), space and detail within each room needed to be tightly crafted.

<p>Christner's interior designers conducted image preference workshops in order to objectively advise the client on what approaches were most likely to succeed in their facility.</p>

Christner's interior designers conducted image preference workshops in order to objectively advise the client on what approaches were most likely to succeed in their facility.