| North Memorial - North Memorial Stays Healthy |
| Print - Cover Story | ||
| By Chris Petersen | ||
| Wednesday, 18 July 2007 | ||
 North Memorial builds on its strengths in emergency and trauma care to continually improve its services.
He says advances such as robotic surgical technology have bolstered the hospital’s already respected image. Located just outside the Twin Cities in Robbinsdale, Minn., North Memorial was originally established as Victory Memorial Hospital in 1939 by Dr. Samuel Samuelson. The first suburban hospital in Minnesota, it was reorganized as a private, nonprofit operation in 1954, when it was also renamed North Memorial. Today, North Memorial serves a population of more than 1.2 million with 518 beds and operates one of the largest hospital-owned ambulance services in the nation with 115 ambulances and seven helicopters. Best Practices Cress says North Memorial stands out in the region because of the quality of its emergency and trauma services. “We are known throughout the community for our emergency and trauma services,” he says. “For six consecutive years, we have been named the most preferred hospital for emergency care in the metro area [based on community surveys].” North Memorial is a Level I Trauma Center, one of the few in the upper Midwest, according to the hospital. Critical-care services are available 24 hours a day, and the hospital says individualized treatment plans are developed for each patient. Each patient’s progress is monitored by a nurse clinician and a surgeon. The hospital’s emergency department treats nearly 80,000 patients annually. The hospital recently expanded and renovated its emergency facility, increasing the number of beds from 34 to 48, making all patient rooms private. Cress says cancer care is another point of pride for the hospital. In the form of the Humphrey Cancer Center, North Memorial provides one of the region’s most comprehensive and specialized cancer programs, with specialists in many fields working together. The Humphrey Cancer Center has three locations in Minnesota and treats patients from throughout the state and western Wisconsin. Knowledge is Power North Memorial is committed to education, Cress says, and supports several physician training programs, including a family practice residency program. He says the hospital trains 10 family practice doctors a year. The hospital also trains its own imaging technicians through its technical school, and is working to make training available to a wider population. “We’re currently working with the Dunwoody Academy to add a health care component to their curriculum,” Cress says. The trade school added classes in imaging and other medical technologies for current health care workers as well as those interested in the field. North Memorial has an education department that works to ensure all staff members have the most up-to-date training in their respective areas, Cress says. Cutting-Edge Medicine As medical technology continues to evolve, North Memorial has stayed in step, Cress says. For instance, the hospital has built a new endovascular surgery suite that incorporates the latest technology, and the addition of the da Vinci robotic surgical platform has given patients a new option for the treatment of prostate cancer, he says. The da Vinci system allows surgeons to use robotic arms to perform complicated surgical procedures through incisions between one and two centimeters. The da Vinci system seamlessly translates the surgeon’s hand movements into precise movements of the instruments, allowing physicians to perform complex surgery in a manner never before experienced. “The system means less pain for patients and shorter recovery times,” Cress says. The hospital also has been working to respond to changes in how consumers seek out and pay for health care. Cress says North Memorial has noticed a trend to health savings accounts, and has restructured aspects of its service to be more convenient for patients. For example, Cress says, North Memorial is implementing a Quick Visits program at select clinics within its existing primary care clinic network, which will provide patients fast treatment of low-acuity illnesses, with no appointment necessary. “We want to provide remarkable service to our patients and our Quick Visits program is just one example of catering to their needs,” Cress says. “We’ve tried to make ourselves look and feel more like a retail experience, realizing that people do have options and they do make choices.” Building for the Future North Memorial next answers the call in Maple Grove, where it will unveil a new health campus in late 2007. Phase I of the new health campus will include a medical office building and a 150,000 square-foot outpatient center, which will include urgent care, outpatient surgery, imaging and a gastrointestinal laboratory. Phase II of the health campus will include a new hospital that will open in December 2009. The hospital, which will initially be 90 beds, will be built to expand to as many as 300 beds when needed. In addition to building new facilities to serve the growing communities, he says the hospital is also working to make its successes more transparent to the community. For example, at North Memorial, it takes an average of 53 minutes from when a patient arrives at the emergency department with an acute heart attack to the time the artery around the heart is opened with angioplasty. The American Heart Association calls for a “door-to-balloon” time of no more than 90 minutes. Making residents aware of the low mortality rate in the cardiac program as well as other services is necessary for North Memorial’s continued success, Cress says. “We are convinced and committed to making our quality more transparent so that the community can understand the value that we represent,” he says. |
||
| < Previous Story | Next Story > |
|---|
