Hospital erects mock ward rooms in ‘test run’

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Bermuda Hospitals Board staff have been given an early look at what the rooms in the new hospital could look like.

Mock rooms have been built next to the construction site with an aim of fine-tuning them before they’re actually put to use.

Nicole Caines, assistant director of Operational Readiness, said: “There are different areas that we are testing to make sure we are moving forward with a facility that is in line with our requirements.

“It is the small details that make the difference. It’s a test-run.”

The room design was by no means final, she said. Many of the items used were borrowed from the existing hospital.

“It allows us to look at things from a circulation perspective at how wide the hallways are, at the types of materials we are using at the new hospital,” Ms Caines explained.

“We are testing all of these things at this point in time to make sure we have a good plan and don’t run into issues in the future.”

Pictures of phones and liquid sanitiser dispensers were attached to the walls where the actual items would ordinarily be.

In a simulated patient room, a painted canvas was hung to represent a television.

Staff have been testing the floors to see how easily they stain, in the simulated trauma room next door.

Ms Caines said the staff were able to identify numerous areas where small tweaks could be made to improve facility, such as moving switches, getting deeper sinks and the placement of clocks.

Even the Jobson Cove-inspired colour scheme of the hospital has been given scrutiny. Each floor of the hospital will have its own colour orange for Emergency; blue for the upper wards.

“Because the wards are very large and square, we have designed them to have two nurses’ stations.

“One station in a corner will take 15 beds, and the nurses’ station on the diagonal other corner will take 15 beds,” Ms Caines said.

“What we are looking at is when a patient or a visitor comes out of a bedroom in a corner that is not a nurses’ station, they will see two nurses’ stations and they won’t know which one is affiliated with their bedroom.

“What we’ve done is put together a light version and a darker version of the floor’s colour.

“One station will be marked with the light colour, and the room will be accented with the same colour so they will be corresponding. It will help with way-finding throughout the site.”

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