New inpatient beds bring total bed count to 171

With the recent success of the Faulkner21 program and increased volume in the Emergency Department, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital’s inpatient units have been caring for more and more patients. To better accommodate those patients, BWFH has been renovating spaces on the 6th and 7th floor inpatient units to increase the hospital’s total bed count from 162 to 171.

“Lately we’ve been experiencing times of census need driven by our Emergency Department and patients transferred from Brigham and Women’s Hospital,” says Cori Loescher, MM, BSN, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services. “With our current number of beds, we can’t accommodate all of these patients.”

In order to grow the bed count from 162 to 171, several staff work areas and offices on 6 South, 6 North and 7 North are being converted back to inpatient rooms. As a result, the staff work areas and offices are being relocated. Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants are now working in a space on the 6th floor that was formerly dedicated to case management. On the 6th floor, Nurse Directors and Clinical Leaders now have offices and work areas by the main elevators. On the 7th floor, sleep spaces will be moved to the 4th floor and the physical therapy gym on 7 North will have computer workstations added.

Loescher says, “There are clearly patients that have need for the level of care we can provide here at BWFH. It’s very exciting to be able rework our existing space and accommodate those patients on our campus. This is our mission.”

When construction is complete on the new Outpatient Infusion Center on the third floor, the ED will take over their space on the fifth floor for a new 12-bed observation unit. These new beds will not be licensed inpatients beds, but it will increase BWFH’s total bed count to 183.