FINAL DRAFT 9-26-95
REVISED FEBRUARY 1997
Functional Considerations
Narrative
Operations:
Services:
Level of Care (consider trends):
Diagnostic services are conducted on
Pulmonary Medicine requires a wide array
both inpatients and outpatients, using a range
of specialized portable equipment.
The
of equipment.
volume of service may support duplicating
facilities in inpatient and ambulatory care
Outpatient diagnostic services tend to be
settings.
Therefore, Pulmonary Medicine
administered within the department and may
should be located near
hospital and
be administered within the ordering service,
ambulatory care based sites or satellites.
such as the Emergency Room or the
Ambulatory Clinic.
Outpatient use comprises the majority of
the department's diagnostic workload, which
Stress testing and sleep studies tend to
does not require a hospital setting.
be performed within the department due to
the technologically intensive nature of these
VA Pulmonary Medicine facilities are
studies.
focused upon serving the Veteran, and may
include sharing agreements, joint ventures,
Respiratory care services, including
referrals and efforts to include the veteran's
equipment supply and reprocessing are
family as well as the general public.
provided to all areas of the hospital placing
particular importance on the ER Intensive
Care Units and on the Surgical Recovery
Medical Records:
Nursing Units.
In the near future, the increased use of
Education for patients and their families
the electronic medical records will make
and equipment maintenance for home
paper records of much less importance.
services are gaining importance with the
Image capture and imaging stations will also
decrease in length of hospital stay and
become increasingly important.
increase in patient and family roles in the
care process.
Patient Protocol:
Patient Care Concept:
Remote services may require storage
space for mobile equipment, which can be
As mentioned above, the patient and the
located within the department or within the
family are included as a members of the care
unit served.
team. This increases the importance of the
educational role of Pulmonary Medicine.
With this patient-focused care in mind,
the core facilities and staff serve as cross-
trained resources for therapeutic services
throughout the hospital. Pulmonary Medicine
can be the ideal model of this concept.
VA DESIGN GUIDE
PULMONARY MEDICINE SERVICE
PAGE 2-2
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