Construction complete on new Parkland hospital burn intensive care unit

DALLAS – Construction of patient rooms for the Burn Intensive Care Unit is now finished in the acute care tower of the new Parkland hospital.

Patients in the BICU, one of Parkland’s premier service lines, will benefit from having private rooms that measure 260 square feet, an 85 percent increase from the smaller rooms currently shared with another patient. The rooms are large enough for the patient’s guests to visit and the rooms include modern day conveniences like shelves with electric outlets for guests to charge their electronic devices. 

The new Parkland Burn Center will include 12 intensive care and 18 acute care beds; the current center is comprised of nine intensive care and 17 acute care beds, according to Lou Saksen, Senior Vice President of New Parkland Construction.

“Space for a large television screen is positioned on the wall in front of the patient’s bed,” Saksen said. “The space was designed and wired to accommodate the ever-changing technology for communicating with patients. A whiteboard will be positioned over the TV screen so nurses can write their names and other important information for their patients.”

The burn unit is equipped with special isolation rooms that allow use of negative air pressure to keep contaminants and pathogens from reaching other patients, staff and visitors. Each isolation room includes an ante room to provide a space for the caregivers and family members to wash up before and after entering the patient room. Including these rooms in the design of the new hospital is further proof of Parkland’s commitment to safe, quality care for all patients.

Established in 1962, the Parkland Burn Center is the second largest civilian burn center in the nation, providing care to more than 1,600 patients each year. Parkland’s Burn Center is verified by a joint program of the American Burn Association (ABA) and the American College of Surgeons (ACS). It is a rigorous review program designed to verify a burn center’s resources that are required for the provision of optimal care to burn patients from the time of injury through rehabilitation.

Parkland Burn Center is recognized internationally for the formula used in providing fluid resuscitation of the burn injured patient. The Parkland resuscitation formula, developed in 1968, is one of the most significant advances in burn care in the past 50 years. Today, Parkland continues to discover and utilize leading treatments, new products and resources in the advancement of care – for example, new dressings that are impregnated with silver that can be left in place for as long as seven days, dressings with new antimicrobial agents and new products that increase graft success.

The new Parkland hospital is scheduled to be completed in August 2014 and open to the public in early 2015. 

For more information on new Parkland construction, please visit: http://newparkland.parklandhospital.com/.