Publications
Opening of P6 and P3 Nursing Units Adds Beds
With the recent opening of the Purple 6 (P6), and Purple 3 (P3) nursing units, MD Anderson gained 48 additional beds and even greater insight into the value of our nursing teams.
by Erika Hargrove
The nurses that serve on these floors learned new skills and work processes to enter their new roles at the highest level of competence. P6 is a primary care floor for Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology patients and a secondary care floor for Leukemia patients. So in many cases, nurses who volunteered or were recruited to work on that floor required new training to serve this special population.
Hyacinth Gordon, associate director of nursing for P6, says the nurses remain excited about the new unit and the learning opportunities that are ahead.”The unit opened flawlessly with employees welcoming patients with smiles and applause. So far, everything is going according to the plan, and we’re all happy to have a new ‘home’ for our patients and staff.”
The reopening and reorganizing of P6 is a result of nursing unit moves in recent years to allow for the Alkek Hospital Expansion Project. Leukemia patients previously occupied the P6 location and now have returned to the Alkek Hospital, G10W location.
The opening of P3A has helped the hospital to transition patients out of the Emergency Center hallways and into beds after they are admitted.
Patricia Hannon, director of Clinical Nursing, and Marcela Benitez-Romero, nurse manager, say that there once was a time when you could walk into the Emergency Center and see patients lined up on stretchers in the hallways. “This new unit gives us a transition area for our patients to go to, which increases throughput and patient satisfaction,” Hannon says.
The hope is that P3A will have the same success that P3B has had in helping with throughput. P3B, the transition PACU, consists of 16 beds that opened in 2007 for 23 hour observation and surgery patients discharged from PACU waiting for a bed.
The latest patient satisfaction results that were released confirmed that patients were pleased with the results that P3B brought to their patient care. They are hoping that the changes to the other units will bring the same results.
Both of the new units are staffed with a combination of experienced nurses from within MD Anderson and outside hospitals. New nurses also are part of the nursing teams.