Just opened what I (fondly) believe to be a state-of-the-art Resuscitation room. You are very welcome to come and have a look round. Having said that, I
designed the Unit to do a job, not as a copy of somewhere else's: I simply pinched little ideas; for example, overhead thermal lamps to keep hypothermic
patients warm.
Quick thoughts - it will take up much more of your time that you can imagine but you must, must, must put the work in or it will be unusable. You must go to
every meeting - yourself. You must get the architect to explain the reasoning for the position of every item - yourself. You must not take anything for granted.
Involve everyone you can; nurses, ambulance liaison officer, porters, infection control, manual handling, tissue viability and so on. Insist it is air-conditioned.
Go for a daring colour scheme - get a professional adviser. Spend money on good equipment - get less rather than cheaper. Really. Allow others to do tricky
negotiation with neighbouring departments on your behalf - it doesn't eliminate antagonism but does keep it manageable. See it in the round; will there be
staffing implications? If so, who will fund those? Get the promises in writing. Don't forget to negotiate cleaning. Your purchasing and supplies people will save
you SHEDLOADS of money if you let them do the negotiating with suppliers.Talk specifications, never mention money. In particular, never let on what your
budget for anything is to anybody. Say thank you. Lots. Do things for the Friends like opening fêtes, judging babies, stuff like that. I could not believe my ears
when I was told that I was the first Consultant in living memory who had bothered to do anything for our Friends. These people will raise unbelievable amounts
of money and it seems to me common courtesy to give them a few hours of your time in return.
Start from the premise that if it helps your patient, do it.
And finally, when it is complete, don't get downhearted when your bitchiest nurse, who has not turned up to any of the multitudes of meeting you will hold,
announces to all and sundry that, "Nobody ever asks our opinion."
We only had two minor glitches which were easily fixed; the short-stay ward had lighting appropriate for a general ward, and the overhead heater (you know,
the blower type that sends a curtain of hot air down) wouldn't fit over the ambulance door, so it was fitted to blow AT the door - right into the eyes of a patient
on a trolley! Those were easily sorted.
Best wishes,
Rowley Cottingham
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