An iconic example of the destructive power of a tornado will soon be reborn as one the nation's most technologically advanced hospitals.
Mercy Hospital Joplin is set to officially open on March 22 in Joplin, Mo., becoming the newest member of the 46-hospital Mercy health system. The hospital sits on the site formerly occupied by St. John's Regional Medical Center, which was almost leveled by a May 2011 tornado that killed more than 160, injured some 1,150 and caused $2.8 billion in damage.
The new hospital, part of a health system well known for its advances in telemedicine and mHealth, is expected to serve as a cutting-edge example of the digital hospital of the future — or, to be more precise, today.
“Joplin has had to pick itself up from a horrific disaster,” Gary Pulsipher, the new hospital's president, said in a press release. “Now the community is rebuilding to emerge stronger – and we are proud to say – with a new hospital unlike any in the region.”
Mercy Hospital Joplin will feature several telemedicine programs that have seen success in other parts of the network, including:
Tele-ICU – dubbed "Mercy SafeWatch," the system enables round-the-clock monitoring of about 500 beds in 15 hospitals across five states. Staffed by a critical care corps of roughly 40 physicians and 60 nurses, the system is designed to reduce length of stay, mortality rates and incidents of ventilator-associated infections and central blood line infections.
Telesepsis – the remote technology developed at Mercy Hospital St. Louis targets patients at risk of developing bacterial infections, which can lead to sepsis. Mercy officials say the monitoring program has cut the number of deaths due to severe infections in half and reduced the average length of time spent in intensive care by two days.
eAcute Care – the latest of Mercy's many telemedicine projects extends the tele-ICU program into general medical and surgical floors, enabling nurses to monitor many patients from a single station. Ten beds at the Joplin hospital have been fitted with sensors and video links as part of the program.
Telestroke – one of the first and most successful implementations of telemedicine, telestroke services are being offered at hospitals across the country to connect patients experiencing strokes with neurologists hundreds of miles distant who can administer a potentially life-saving drug within minutes. Mercy's program encompasses some 30 hospitals.
Mercy Hospital Joplin will also feature private rooms, a pediatric wing, a neonatal intensive care unit and an extensive electronic medical records system – which, ironically, was installed at the old hospital just weeks before the tornado and helped to preserve records that would have been lost if kept on paper. There's also MyMercy, a patient-facing web portal through which patients can view records, schedule doctor appointments and even conduct some e-visits.
“Whether inpatient, outpatient or even in-home monitoring, Mercy can now provide care from anyplace to anywhere,” Pulsipher said in the press release.
Mercy Hospital Joplin isn't the only new jewel in Mercy's crown. Mercy Virtual, a four-story, 120,000-square-foot virtual care center named the world's first "hospital without patients," will open this summer at the health system's headquarters near St. Louis. Mercy Virtual will serve as a telemedicine hub for the health system, enabling clinicians to connect in real-time with any of the system's outlying facilities.
“Telemedicine lets us provide the best possible care to people where and when they need it – even when patients wouldn’t otherwise have access to specialists, such as neurologists and pediatric cardiologists,” Lynn Britton, Mercy's president and CEO, said during ground-breaking ceremonies in 2014. “The center will bring together the nation’s best telehealth professionals to reach more patients, develop more telemedicine services and improve how we deliver virtual care through education and innovation.”
