Blanchfield’s new ICU marks expanded critical care capabilities

Photo By Maria Christina Yager | Blanchfield Army Community Hospital nurse Heather Collins (left) looks up information for nurse Emily Acree at the nursing station in the hospital’s ICU Jan. 11. The newly renovated 9,300-square foot ICU features eight new private ICU suites, a centralized nursing station, charting stations, all new ICU equipment and state-of-the-art telehealth capabilities through the Joint Tele-Critical Care Network.  

FORT CAMPBELL, KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES

01.11.2022

Story by Maria Christina Yager 

Blanchfield Army Community Hospital

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – When Blanchfield Army Community Hospital marked the grand opening of its new Intensive Care Unit with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Jan. 12, it signified a new era, with the most advanced technologies to care for its most seriously ill patients.

“This is about a new beginning, a new facility, and new capabilities to improve patient outcomes,” said Col. Vincent B. Myers, hospital commander, during a small ceremony with members of the ICU staff in the newly renovated unit.

An ICU supports patients who are critically ill. The new 9,300 square foot ICU features eight suites containing the latest medical technology and equipment to aid in that care. In March, the capability will expand and each ICU suite will have virtual health capabilities up and running through the Defense Health Agency’s Joint Tele-Critical Care Network.

This new virtual health capability enables Blanchfield’s ICU care teams to include advanced medical specialists from DHA’s larger medical centers as members of the patient’s care team to assess, recommend, and order specialized treatments and therapies 24/7.

“In the ICU the patient’s medical condition may place their life in immediate danger so they are monitored very closely by their care team,” said Maj. Brenda Mitchell, a critical care nurse and Clinical Nurse Officer in Charge of Blanchfield’s ICU.

“The virtual health system brings board certified critical care physicians, or intensivists, and pulmonologists from Naval Medical Center San Diego, Brook Army Medical Center and Madigan Army Medical Center to the bedside virtually, in order conduct rounds with the patient and the care team to improve patient outcomes,” said Mitchell.

Blanchfield’s new technology will track and analyze vital signs, lab results, progress notes and other real-time data through the secure network and is available to the patient’s care team at bedside and virtually.

“This provides our patients better access to care while reducing the need to transfer patients to other hospitals,” said Mitchell.

Virtual health technology is currently used in both civilian and military hospitals and Myers said that this capability only adds to the high level of safe quality care provided by ICU staff.

“I want to thank you for caring for our service members past and present and their families,” Myers told the assembled ICU staff. “We don’t get to do what you do every day, which is touch that patient and make that difference in people’s lives directly,” said Myers.

• Date Taken: 01.11.2022
• Date Posted: 01.26.2022 14:19
• Story ID: 413450
• Location: FORT CAMPBELL, KENTUCKY, US