case study:

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center
Surgical Intensive Care Unit
Chicago, IL

Challenges
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center commissioned Jensen & Halstead to modernize and consolidate its inefficient Surgical Intensive Care Unit, while increasing its bed capacity. The old SICU, consisting of two remote, outdated units with separate nurse stations, lacked modern technology practices and was inefficient in both patient care and staffing.

Solutions
Jensen & Halstead arranged the 20-bed unit, including six isolation beds, around one centrally-located nursing station and staff support areas to maximize the quality of patient care. The technical service requirements of a Level I Trauma designation demanded a high-tech environment as well as a great deal of flexibility in room set-up. In response, Jensen & Halstead designed these rooms with the latest technology in ceiling-mounted, dual-rotating, swiveling headwalls.

In addition to the technical requirements, great attention was paid to creating a comfortable healing environment. We used architectural features to enhance the healing environment, such as clerestory windows for maximizing the patients’ daylight orientation and indirect lighting for patient psychological comfort. Our attention to detail and ability to address the hospital’s challenges in an efficient way resulted in a very successful design of the SICU.