Moving to the Glen site : the NICU team starts preparing

Andréane Pharand, Mario Bonenfant, Dr. Therese Perreault and Lynn Lauzon review the plans of their new unit. 

Moving to the new McGill University Health Centre’s (MUHC) Glen site means a lot more than just moving boxes and setting up camp in a new building. It means planning for both a physical move and a shift in practices.

The newly-merged Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) at the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) and Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) are gearing up for a major shift; not only are they learning to work together as one, they’re figuring out how they’ll work in a completely different unit. “We have open spaces now, where nurses can see and talk to each other. At the Glen site, the layout is really patient-focused—we have 52 single patient rooms, so our interdisciplinary team will have to figure out new ways to communicate and work together,” explains Andréane Pharand, MUHC nursing coordinator for the Neonatology Program.   

The NICU group is taking advantage of the upcoming move to make things better for themselves and their young patients. “There’s a lot of work to do.  I tell my colleagues that the move is an opportunity to really look at what we’re doing right, scale it up and identify what it is we want to improve upon,” says Pharand. 

“For the next year and a half,  planning for the move is a priority. We’re getting together around the floor plans with our sharpies and mapping out work flows and staffing needs as well as discussing new best practices.  The plans will be posted throughout the units for all of our staff and families to see,” says Pharand. “Keeping people informed and updated is my priority.  The more we talk about the new Glen site NICU, the more real it gets.”