Parkview announced Wednesday that the construction of Parkview Regional Health Medical Center, the 900,000-square-foot, $536 million project, should be complete by Nov. 1, nearly two months ahead of schedule.

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The hospital gave local media a guided tour Wednesday to show the construction. Greg Johnson, chief medical officer, said the project is ahead of schedule because of good planning and a little luck. 

Mark Hisey, Parkview vice president of changing spaces, said a lot of the staff helped with the planning. Mockup designs for the emergency room, patient rooms, nurses stations and operating room areas were done repeatedly, changing as staff made suggestions. The final patient room went through five design changes before the final plan. The flow and workspaces are designed to support teamwork and communication. They will use more advanced technology to improve patient care and staff efficiency and have designed the space so it can be adapted as technology changes and the hospital grows.

An example of the design and function would be the higher and wider doorways in the ER trauma areas, as well as the trauma operating rooms. This means trauma patients can be moved more easily from one area to another. For efficiency and workflow, designers put the ER right next to an imaging center so CAT scans can be done more quickly, with less movement of the patient. The heart catheter labs also are more efficient. Not only can a patient have that procedure done, but if doctors discover surgery is needed, they can do it there in the lab. According to Hisey, Parkview is the only hospital in the area to offer this convenience.

On the lower floors of the building all these plans still look like plain walls with visible studs, bracing, wiring and plumbing, but on fourth floor some of the patient rooms are closer to completion, with paint, flooring and tile in the bathrooms. The new medical center, combined with what currently serves as Parkview North, will have 400 patient beds. All rooms are private with their own bathrooms.

Downstairs in the main lobby a large atrium will welcome visitors with a water feature and a tall interactive sign that will greet them as they come in. A touch screen on the sign will help direct visitors to areas in the hospital as well as find services like restaurants and lodging for patients' families. Behind the lobby will be the new hospital restaurant, which will be open 24/7 and have a wood-fired pizza oven to make “healthy” pizza. Off the restaurant will be a large outdoor patio area for dining. This will be a huge change; at the hospital's old location on Randallia Drive the restaurant is in the basement.

When the new medical center combines with the current Parkview North Hospital, they will offer a full emergency and trauma department; specialty centers for heart, orthopedics, cancer, women's and children's service; outpatient services; adult and pediatric trauma centers; and Samaritan medical flight services amid a full-service 24/7 ER with board-certified emergency physicians.

If construction stays on schedule, the medical center should be open for patients by March 2012.