The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recently awarded a silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence to Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth’s Cardiac Telemetry unit.
The unit is among a group of 12 telemetry units across the nation that have earned a Beacon Award for Excellence.
Currently, Texas Health Fort Worth is the only facility in the state to earn this specific Beacon Award, with the next closest facility being in California. The silver-level award signifies continuous learning and effective systems to achieve optimal patient care.
This is the hospital’s fourth silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence. Just two months ago, Texas Health Fort Worth’s Cardiac Progressive Care Unit was recognized. And last year, the hospital earned a Beacon Award for its Neurosurgical ICU and its Cardiac Care unit.
Dawn Gatto, MSN, R.N., PCCN and cardiac telemetry manager, says the recognition boils down to dedication to excellence and humility.
“It would not be possible without the exemplary professionalism and cohesiveness of the entire Cardiac Telemetry 4th floor,” Gatto said. “Each employee’s drive and dedication to providing quality, evidence-based care is the reason we got the Beacon recognition, and I’m privileged to serve as a leader to such an elite team of healthcare professionals.”
Established in 2003, the award recognizes hospital units that successfully demonstrate improved patient outcomes and unit performance also in addition to aligning practices with AACN’s six Healthy Work Environment Standards.
Texas Health Fort Worth’s Cardiac Telemetry unit consists of 25 beds located on the Heart Center’s fourth floor. The unit focuses on cardiac patients who require constant monitoring resulting from acute and chronic ailments ranging from congestive heart failure and heart attacks to arrhythmias.
As part of the totality of care provided, the unit focuses on patient experience in addition to clinical care and outcomes.
Last month, a cardiac telemetry patient was adamant about leaving the hospital. After speaking with him in detail, Paige O’Neil, R.N., learned the patient’s daughter was graduating from high school the next day.
But before leaving the hospital, the patient needed to wait several days for a life vest, which monitors heart rhythms and requires getting fitted and learning how to operate it.
O’Neil sprang into action, completing paperwork for the life vest, even reaching out to the patient’s doctors to schedule additional tests after the graduation.
“Doctors normally round on the patients while they are in the hospital, but this patient was able to leave the next day, wearing his life vest. Most importantly, in the patient’s eyes, he made it to the graduation,” O’Neil said. “That’s our goal every day – meeting the needs of our patients.”
“Being recognized with this award in three of our specific cardiac units continues to emphasize the type of nurses we have here,” said Jennifer Mayhan, MSN, MHA, R.N. and Texas Health Fort Worth’s Heart and Vascular Services director. “These employees continue to shine, and earning national recognition demonstrates our focus on quality and excellence in cardiac nursing care.”
THR, UT Southwestern Frisco plans move forward
Texas Health Resources and UT Southwestern Medical Center joined with Frisco city leaders on July 26 to mark a milestone in the construction of Texas Health Hospital Frisco with a topping out event. The new campus will bring an acute care hospital and multispecialty clinic complex to this rapidly growing part of Collin County. The $270 million project launched last summer and clinical services on the campus should begin by the end of 2019.
“Texas Health works with consumers both inside and out of the walls of our hospitals to help them lead a lifetime of health and well-being,” said Barclay Berdan, FACHE, CEO of Texas Health Resources.
“Here in Frisco and its surrounding communities, there is a critical need for acute care hospitals that focus on excellent care and an unmatched patient experience, providing services North Texans need close to home. The UT Southwestern physicians, Texas Health Physicians Group doctors and independent physicians will drive the excellent care that will be provided. It is a privilege to care for those in need. It’s the heart of what we do,” Berdan said.
The collaboration of UT Southwestern and Texas Health blends two of the region’s top health care systems and the area’s largest physician network.
“As with all our work with Texas Health, this project draws upon the strengths that each partner brings to the table. Our faculty physicians, together with Texas Health’s community physician colleagues, will serve the needs of the Frisco community through a coordinated network, ranging from primary care to the most specialized expertise. In addition, patients will have the opportunity to go beyond even state-of-the-art treatments through access to participation in innovative clinical trials,” said Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky, president of UT Southwestern.
The 325,000-square-foot campus at Texas Health Hospital Frisco will have an 80-bed acute care hospital with a 24/7 emergency department, surgical services, women’s services and a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
The medical staff will be an open model, comprising local independent physicians, UT Southwestern faculty and Texas Health Physicians Group providers. This hospital, which is designed to expand to 140 beds as the community continues to grow, complements the more-than-350 access points of Texas Health Resources, the largest nonprofit health care system in North Texas.
The 120,000-square-foot UT Southwestern Medical Center at Frisco medical office building will house a multispecialty clinic that includes an extension of its Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute, providing neurology, spine surgery and a state-of-the-art concussion rehabilitation facility.
The Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center will offer programs in breast and colon cancer screening and treatment. Pediatric specialty services will include ophthalmology, otolaryngology, gastroenterology and dermatology.
A large part of the first floor will be dedicated to physical medicine, rehabilitation and therapy, with an emphasis on restoration of function and enhancement of performance for neurologic, orthopedic and other conditions.
The medical office building will have space for UT Southwestern physicians, THPG providers and independent physicians.
“This facility brings to Collin County some of the best that UT Southwestern Medical Center has to offer and expands the presence and opportunities available through the clinically integrated network UT Southwestern and Texas Health formed in 2016, Southwestern Health Resources. With a new campus in Collin County, we are furthering our ability to meet the needs of patients, as well as insurers and employers in North Texas, with health care services designed to improve both the quality of care available and value,” said Podolsky.
Texas Health and UT Southwestern have a long-standing relationship that goes back to the opening of Texas Health Dallas more than 50 years ago.
When Texas Health Dallas opened in 1966, many of the physicians on the medical staff were faculty members at UT Southwestern, bringing the latest in modern medicine to the new campus on Walnut Hill Lane.
Additionally, UT Southwestern and Texas Health came together 25 years ago to create a human physiology research center, the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine in Dallas. This research collaboration promotes basic and clinical research, education, and clinical practice, with the objective of improving the quality of life for people of all ages.
The hospital will also serve residents of The Colony, Little Elm, Prosper, Pilot Point, Celina, Aubrey and surrounding communities.
Methodist Mansfield opens Kids Zone
Methodist Mansfield Hospital opened its Amon G. Carter Foundation Kids Zone, designed with kid-friendly rooms to make trips to the ER a little less stressful, on June 21.
The 864 square-foot space features three treatment rooms with bright, colored walls painted with lions, tigers, bears and bugs and is equipped with interactive play stations to help children stay entertained while they are treated.
– FWBP Staff