Places where there is a fast turnover of patients as in Emergency, Same Day Surgery, Digestive Health, PACU, Pediatrics, we have more Sereneview curtains installed because of the anxiety and stress everyone has. Listen as Mary Bednar, Executive Director of Emergency Services at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center explains how they make her job better.
Sereneview’s Loren Price asked, “How have the curtains benefited your department and with the patients and staff?”
Mary told him, “There have been quite a few benefits from (the curtains). First of all, is the feedback that we’ve gotten from patients. They see these scenes and they’re continuously remarking how beautiful they are, how it makes them feel at ease, makes them feel at peace, and it gives them something to look at rather than just the four walls of the treatment room. The feedback has been tremendously positive across the board.
The other qualities that we really like about these curtains are the antimicrobial benefits and the stain guard associated with it. They’re very easy to clean, very easy to wipe down, and it really provides a benefit in a busy emergency department where there’s continuous turnover. We’re always concerned about infection control, so these, I think, have really made a huge difference. We’re not taking them down frequently and cleaning them. They’ve stayed very nice. These have been up for quite some time and they still look as good as when they were first hung.”
Loren also asked, “Managing the caseload with patients, have you noticed they aren’t so uneasy with you in there because the curtains are like a quiet distraction?
Mary acknowledged, “ It really is a quiet distraction. It’s almost like this more therapeutic milieu for our patients because previously we just had plain beige curtains in the department and four walls and ceiling of a treatment room. Now I can’t tell you how many staff members have said before we got these, we didn’t know what we were missing and now that we got them, they’re continuously receiving great feedback from patients on these curtains. The patients are saying, this really is one of the nicest emergency departments that they’ve seen because of the scenery that’s on these. We have several different scenes in different rooms so everyone who comes through, if we have folks coming back, they may not be in the same room with the same scene, so they’re all beautiful.
Prior to us getting these to the patients, I can tell you a funny little story with our staff. I was talking up these curtains and saying, ‘We’re getting them, we’re getting them, they’re going to be great, they’re going to be wonderful!’ A couple of our docs and a couple of staff members and going, “Well come on, it’s a curtain.” Once all the curtains were hung, they came back and said, ‘Okay, you were right. It’s really made a difference. We’re hearing great things from patients and look how beautiful they are when you’re going into the treatment rooms.’
So, that three-fold – the patient satisfaction piece of it, providing a more relaxing environment for patients, that little bit of distraction while you’re in a room awaiting your care. The antimicrobial properties really, really important when you have such high turnover, and then the stain guard component of it. Just to be able to wipe it down if you happen to get a splash or some betadine or something like that on there, to just clean it off. It’s made a huge difference. It saves time and room turnover as well.”
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Sereneview hospital curtains, window treatments, and overhead lit ceiling tiles transform a previously sterile and frightening experience by allowing patients to be distracted with the peaceful beauty of nature. In addition, the curtains combat the issue of infection because of the antimicrobial elements in the fabric that cut down on handling, maintenance, and risk of infection. Costs are kept wildly below the cost of typical curtains or disposable curtains when you factor in replacement costs, cleaning costs, labor costs, as well as the stress and disruption in the room when there is patient turnover.