This multi-function ICU, designed specifically for cancer patients,
features state-of-the-art equipment and finishes without the usual
hospital aesthetic. Nursing stations are stationed around the floor
to give direct lines of site to each patient room. E-glass windows
separating each ICU room give nursing staff and doctors direct
views of all patient rooms while allowing for patient privacy. The
nursing stations are assigned to blocks of rooms, allowing staff to
open new areas of the floor on an as needed basis, facilitating the
appropriate staffing levels.
Because research is a major component of Memorial Sloan-
Kettering’s mission, doctors’ offices and research facilities have
been located on the same floor and directly connected to the ICU.
This allows for a faster return on diagnosis and treatment options
and improved staff interaction. In addition, pneumatic tubes within
the building connect the floor to the testing labs in neighboring
buildings allowing for direct access to research and laboratories.
Each ICU room has three sinks, a private toilet, and individual nurse
charting and work stations outside the room with windows looking
in on the patient. Specialized cabinetry called ‘Nurse Servers’ open
on both sides to provide non-nursing staff access to sensitive,
pressurized rooms without disturbing the patient or requiring them
to gown up to enter the room. The patients remain in a secure
sterile environment.
The unit also includes a chemo-pharmacy—the first in this hospital;
dialysis room; fellows room and lockers; staff lounges, and a
teleconference capable conference room. A family waiting area
was designed with opaque molded glass and calming colors and
textures to counteract the high stress environment it occupies. It
is located directly neighboring the elevators but removed from the
ward’s central circulation, allowing the families partial access to
the unit.