Mount Zion opened its overnight observation last month, reflecting a growing trend in health care as outpatient surgeries become more common with medical and technological improvements.

"Surgeries are less complicated with faster healing and are less traumatic," says Laraine Ferguson, nurse manager of the overnight unit. "So we can send people home sooner."

Jane Hirsch, vice president of nursing and patient care services at UCSF, says the overnight stay unit is part of the plan to transform Mount Zion from an acute care hospital into an outpatient center.

"Our hope is to provide nice, easy access for patients who are having surgery that doesn’t require them to be in the hospital longer than overnight," she says. "There has been a lot of effort aimed to make it as efficient as possible for patients, their families, physicians and staff. It fits nicely into the concept of Mount Zion becoming an ambulatory care center."

The 23-hour stay unit, which is part of the Mount Zion Surgery Center, allows patients to recover from surgery under the watchful eye of health care professionals, says Jeffrey Pearl, Mount Zion’s chief of staff.

"So if a patient requires post-operative observation overnight for potential complications such as bleeding, pain, nausea or vomiting, the patient may stay in the overnight unit, with the expectation that they will be able to go home at 8 a.m. the next day. If they can’t go home, then they would be transferred to Parnassus."

Located on the third and fourth floors of Mount Zion, the unit is staffed by registered nurses, physicians, patient care assistants, patient support assistants and anesthesia technicians. One physician always spends the night in case of an emergency, according to Ferguson, nurse manager of perioperative services.

The unit consists of an anesthesia care room or recovery room, where patients go immediately after surgery to have their vital signs monitored, as well as operating rooms. It also has private rooms.

"If a family wanted to stay overnight with a loved one, they can do that," Ferguson says.

So far, procedures have ranged from plastic surgery to thyroidectomies, Ferguson says. On average, the unit has three to four overnight patients and can hold a maximum of 16.

The overnight stay unit is open from Monday at 5:30 a.m. to Saturday at noon. No surgeries are scheduled on the weekends or holidays.

Last November, Mount Zion closed its emergency room and transferred its emergency room services to the UCSF Medical Center on the Parnassus campus. Many physicians and staff also left for the Parnassus campus. A month later, the inpatient units also closed and additional beds were added at the Parnassus hospital.

During the last week of December and into early January, Mount Zion was closed to the public while workers repainted the walls, refurbished the rooms and did other kinds of cleanup at the hospital to prepare it for the new year.

"There were real heroes in pulling together the refurbishing of the operating rooms and setting up the 23-hour overnight stay unit," says Suzanne Sullivan, vice president of adult ambulatory services. "Those heroes were the design and construction staff and the nursing staff. They worked day and night to get it done."

Source: Leslie Harris, News Services