Building a 21st Century University Hospital

The Vision for the New Pavilion ICU

Cooper’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has undergone some big changes since the new pavilion tower opened in 2008.

Each change was carefully thought out. For the past two years, key hospital personnel and construction experts worked with Joseph Parrillo, M.D., Head of Cardiovascular Disease and Critical Care Medicine; R. Phillip Dellinger, M.D., Head of Critical Care Medicine; and Mary Jo Cimino, R.N., B.S.N., Clinical Manager for Adult Critical Care. They designed the new Cooper ICU.

“The critical care nursing team was very involved in the design of the large ICU floor,” Mary Jo Cimino said. “We had the first nurse who was president of the Society for Critical Care Medicine–now an ICU consultant–assist us in achieving important specifications such as clear views for nurses to see the patients from nursing stations.”

Here are the highlights:

30 private rooms, including five isolation rooms
Private rooms give patients a quieter atmosphere so they can rest. This also gives doctors and nurses better ability to control infections. Isolation rooms help keep infections from spreading to and from patients.

Large 330-square-foot rooms
Many patients in the ICU are attached to more than one piece of life-saving equipment. Having bigger rooms makes it easier for all the machines to fit around the patient.

Family area within the room
Families can gather in the patient’s room to offer encouragement and support.

Large family waiting area and consultation rooms
The room has Internet access, couches and chairs as well as other amenities to help the families through their time spent at the hospital. Doctors can talk to families in the privacy of consultation rooms.

Satellite pharmacy
A satellite pharmacy on the same floor as the ICU helps get medications to patients quicker and more easily. “Studies have shown us that giving a medication within the first hour of acute illness instead of waiting up to five hours can make a lifesaving difference,” Dr. Parrillo said. “A patient in the ICU receives an average of 17 medications. Our pharmacy coordinates medications for our patients with the highest regard for patient safety.”

Windows to the outside
Each room has a large window to the outside to bring in natural light. “The windows were an important part of the planning. As patients begin to heal, they are encouraged by the world outside of the walls of Cooper,” Dr. Dellinger said.

Nurse work stations between every other room
Nurses have direct views into patient rooms.

360-degree access to the patient for nurses
The room’s design allows nurses to reach more easily behind the patient’s head for medical equipment.

High-tech ceiling lighting
Physicians and nurses have the best lighting possible to facilitate in medical procedures.

World class care
For the past five years, Cooper has doubled the number of patients each day who are treated by our experts in critical care medicine. Along with patients from the immediate area, Cooper receives transfers of critically ill patients from more than 25 hospitals in South Jersey. By air or land, the Cooper Transfer System (COTS) transports patients to Cooper for the highest quality of critical care.

“World class physicians, nurses and state-of-the-art methods for treating patients are at the heart of Cooper critical care medicine,” Dr. Parrillo said. “Cooper is the only hospital in South Jersey to offer a multidisciplinary team approach that includes dedicated critical care physicians–intensivists who provide round-the-clock, on-site care. Studies have shown that having an intensivist can increase the survival rate of the patients we care for.”

Patient care is our top priority at Cooper. With these improvements for the ICU, we can continue to provide top quality health care for the entire region.