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February 5, 2007
Emory Hospital unveils new Neuro Critical Care Unit

BY Lance Skelly

Fulfilling a promise to its patients and taking full advantage of the unique opportunity to design from scratch and build to completion a new hospital-based model of care for the 21st century, Emory University Hospital unveiled its new Neuro Critical Care Unit last week.

This innovative intensive care unit realizes Emory's vision for providing cutting-edge health care in a patient-and family-centered environment. The unit brings together 20 new, state-of-the art patient care rooms and allows for centralization of the most critical medical services for patients suffering from severe neurological trauma including severe brain injury, strokes and aneurysms. It also provides an unparalleled level of comfort and convenience for family members who wish to remain near their loved ones.

"Emory's mission is to not only research and treat disease, but to also deliver a level of care that takes into full account the emotional and spiritual requirements of our patients and their loved ones, who are so critical to the healing process," said Michael M.E. Johns, CEO of Emory's Woodruff Health Sciences Center and chairman of Emory Healthcare.

John Fox, president and CEO of Emory Healthcare, said, "At Emory, we continue to see increasing numbers of critical, neurologically-ill patients who require highly-specialized care not available in local or regional community hospitals. To ensure that each patient and his or her family members have the best outcome possible, we've designed an ICU that capitalizes on the remarkable medical technology available and the expertise of our medical team.

"This care philosophy is the same in all of our ICUs," said Fox. "However, with this new unit, Emory now raises the proverbial 'bar' and sets the standard, locally and nationally, for critical care."

Emory's new unit is one of the largest in the United States, and one of only a few of this type of unit in the Southeast. It will be staffed by neurointensivists as well as a dedicated team of critical care nurses, nurse practitioners and pharmacists.

This approach -- offering around-the-clock monitoring and care management -- has been shown to improve overall survival rates, as well as long-term recovery of function and quality of life.

 

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