Families can now pick up their children's medications just a few steps away from their pediatrician's office, thanks to some recently completed renovations at Madigan Army Medical Center's Department of Pediatrics.
The department hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 25, 2014, for its new embedded pharmacy and its newly renovated lobby.
"We have the opportunity to pause and celebrate a new chapter in our department and the start of a new way of delivering care to our patients," said Col. Aaron Pitney, the chief of the Department of Pediatrics.
The new pediatrics pharmacy serves only pediatrics patients, and is staffed full-time from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Being located within the pediatrics clinic allows better coordination with the pediatric providers, whether outpatient or specialty, and is vastly more convenient for pediatric patients, especially since pharmacy stops after pediatrics' visits can be a hassle when they include a whole family including the sick child, said Del Campbell, the administrative office for the Department of Pediatrics.
"We want to make it as convenient, as pleasant as possible," said Col. Ramona Fiorey, Madigan's commander.
"The model of care has changed, and our focus is changing to bring the care to where the patient is," she said.
This increased focus on the patient experience also played into the renovation of pediatrics' main lobby. Not only did the renovation bring new furniture, new paint, and new toys, it also improved the flow of traffic tied to patients' check-in experiences. A more conveniently-located check-in desk, additional rooms to check vitals, and other changes means less back-and-forth traffic for patients and a smoother appointment overall, said Campbell.
Making pediatrics more patient-friendly puts it into greater compliance with the U.S. Army Medical Command's patient-centered medical home model, which focuses on areas such as patient care flow, access to care and continuity of care, said Campbell.
A key component of the PCMH model is approaching healthcare as teams. Before pediatrics moved to the PCMH model last year, their providers would be matched up with new nurses every day. Reorganizing the department into five teams, each with three to five providers and nurses aligned to support them, builds confidence within the medical teams and helps ensure that patients see the same doctor and nurse at every appointment, Campbell said.
"It should be like 'Cheers', where everyone knows your name from the time you're born until the time you're 23 years old," he said. (Patients with military benefits can be seen in pediatrics until they are 23, although they can transfer to adult care at 18 if they prefer.)
In order to fully support this healthcare team concept, pediatrics hired additional providers, nurses and medical support assistants; they also brought in additional behavioral health and administrative staff. Pediatrics also got a lot more support behind the scenes from other Madigan departments, to include its Informatics Division which, along with an external Joint Strategic and Operational Planning Process team, analyzed pediatrics' flow of business and evaluated everything from staffing numbers to space allocation to the overall patient experience.
This focus on the overall patient experience has been the constant beacon these past few years as pediatrics moved to the PCMH model.
"It's all about our patients; we go above and beyond to take care of them," said Campbell.
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