New Silicon Valley hospital open for business

El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, Calif., has completed its move into a new facility and is now admitting patients.

The Silicon Valley hospital closed the doors of its old facility at 6 a.m. Pacific Time Monday morning and opened the new facility with proclamations from Mountain View mayor Margaret Abe-Koga and Liz Kniss, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

Among the new technologies on display at the hospital is a biometric palm scanning patient registration system, developed by Fujitsu. Hospital officials said optional enrollment in the Fujitsu Palm Secure solution is now available for each patient.

“As a key provider of high acuity care in Silicon Valley, we count on El Camino Hospital to be on the leading edge of care,” said Abe-Koga. “This new facility has all the right tools and a foundation that will allow the hospital to both adapt to and influence the way care is delivered well into the future.”

Hospital officials had been completing practice runs at the $470 million facility over the past few days, delivering the last pieces of equipment from the old hospital and running “day-in-the-life” scenarios and tests in preparation for admitting new patients.

“After spending close to two years experimenting with the mock patient room design layouts to create an ideal setting for our staff and patients, we are thrilled to finally be putting our plans into action,” said Diana Russell, El Camino Hospital’s chief of clinical operations and chief nursing office.

The hospital features:

• New technology for the radiology department, including two new MRI machines, two CTs, one PET CT and five interventional radiology x-ray systems;
• Two da Vinci Si HD Surgical Systems, featuring three-dimensional vision for surgeons performing prostate cancer, gynecologic and bariatric surgeries and cardiac intervention labs with biplane angiography, which can look at the heart from two different viewpoints;
• A facility-wide biometric palm scanning patient registration and computer physician order entry system;
• A pneumatic delivery system that provides information and medication to patients throughout the hospital;
• Telepresence features that allow physicians to link with other hospital staff inside the hospital as well as to other facilities to improve patient diagnosis;

Other features include increased seismic safety design, a fleet of 19 TUG robots to bring food and medical supplies to patients and physicians and electronic patient beds that come equipped with a language translator for 22 languages. The hospital also offers a pediatric care unit with 30 beds that include an inpatient unit to help assist children with eating disorders.

Hospital officials said the old facility will be used for outpatient services and administrative offices, as well as The Women’s Hospital, endoscopy, the Cardiovascular Pulmonary Wellness Center, respiratory therapy, the Heart and Vascular Institute, outpatient laboratory, behavioral health and palliative care services.