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At home with heart surgery

A Morton Plant expansion aims to remove the scary factor for patients and families.

By NICOLE JOHNSON
Published November 1, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Carrie Pratt] Ray Miller, nurse manager of the cardiovascular surgery unit, looks at a monitor Tuesday at Morton Plant's Morgan Heart Hospital.

CLEARWATER - No one wants to have heart surgery if they don't have to.

But Morton Plant Hospital hopes its newest expansion will make the potentially harrowing experience more comfortable and reassuring for both patients and families.

The new $52-million Morgan Heart Hospital includes the revamping of two floors previously used for volunteer services into a cardiovascular "hospital within a hospital" that includes a surgery unit and a section for less invasive procedures.

It is the largest addition in the hospital's 90-year history.

The new wing will begin admitting patients Nov. 13. Until then, incoming cardiac patients will receive some of the expanded services but will not stay in the new rooms.

The new wing boasts an additional 39 private rooms. There are now four high-tech operating rooms and six more labs.

The hospital was also hard-wired to accommodate a network that allows staff members to share information about patients and order tests with the touch of a computer screen. The screens are both inside each patient's room and just outside the room at computerized nurses' stations. That means a nurse can order an X-ray from the patient's bedside or pull up the patient's lab results.

But the crowning glory of Morgan Heart is perhaps its cohesive nature.

Taking a cue from Morton Plant's labor and delivery unit, hospital staffers have created a "universal bed system" approach to caring for cardiac patients.

Before the expansion, patients would arrive at the hospital and go to the presurgery unit. Then they would be taken to a holding area and then to another area for surgery. After surgery, they would stay in the intensive cardiac surgical unit before being moved to a recovery room.

Now patients will stay in the same room, before and after surgery, only leaving for the operation.

"From the patient's family point of view, they always know where their loved one is," said Ray Miller, nurse manager of the cardiovascular surgery unit. "From the patient's point of view, the question is always when you're moving them, 'Can the nurses here take care of me?' "

By staying in the same centralized area, "they see faces they recognize as experts."

The hospital is also changing the traditional rule that limits family visitation. Family members are welcome at Morgan Heart 24 hours a day in a special waiting room, and one family member can spend the night in the patient's room.

"Hospitals can be archaic when it comes to visitation," Miller said. "So we've tried to aim at high-quality care and medical services."

On Tuesday, Bill Cadzow, a patient in the cardiac intervention unit, munched on a breakfast muffin with his wife, Louise, who was sitting nearby. He had received three stents in his heart the day before.

"One of the reasons we feel comfortable here is because of the expertise we know is here," said Cadzow, 82, a retired engineer who lives in Clearwater. "We could have gone anywhere, but we're very satisfied here."

Cadzow's sentiments are exactly why hospitals like Morgan Plant are working to establish themselves as specialty centers.

A few decades ago, it used to be that only a few hospitals specialized in cancer or heart care. These days, more hospitals are carving out specialties for themselves, in turn attracting highly qualified surgeons, staff members and patients who might have sought health care out of state. Locally, Tampa General has distinguished itself as the only hospital that does heart transplants, and the Pepin Heart Hospital & Dr. Kiran C. Patel Research Institute opened last year on the University Community Hospital campus.

Cardiology patients represent the largest segment of Morton Plant, said hospital spokeswoman Amy Morrow. The hospital performed nearly 700 heart surgeries, such as bypasses, last year, as well as hundreds of catheterizations and angioplasty procedures.

The hospital is also carving out a niche in other areas with the Comprehensive Stroke Center, the Neurosciences Institute and the Susan Cheek-Needler Breast Center.

While the Morgan Heart addition is no doubt a big coup for the community when it comes to heart care - the expansion means the hospital can do about 100 more heart surgeries a year - there's no denying that the addition means a potential jackpot for the hospital. The surgeries are some of the costliest procedures in medicine, averaging more than $30,000.

"It's branding and market segmentation," said Jay Wolfson, professor of public health and medicine at the University of South Florida. "The goal in this market is to distinguish yourself as a high-quality, state-of-the-art center for the care of one of those things that is very common and dominant in our state: cardiac care."

Hospital administrators began planning for the new heart center in 2003 but got a huge boost in the form of $5-million from Larry Morgan, 62, a local business owner who has sat on several hospital committees. Morgan lives in Belleair with his wife, Patty.

After getting involved with the hospital, "I started to see the passion and sincerity and quality to the people and the thought process and benefits that they were providing to the community," said Morgan, who sold his 600 Tires Plus centers to Bridgestone in 2000. "I just got immersed in the whole situation and knew we could make a difference."

Nicole Johnson can be reached at 727 445-4162 or njohnson@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 31, 2006, 22:44:03]