Upcoming Changes to IBed/Progressive Care at St. Mary’s
Beginning Sept. 13, IBed/Progressive Care patients will primarily be cohorted on Cardiac Telemetry and Neuro/Trauma. This change is intended to strengthen care for higher-acuity patients by concentrating them on units with experienced IBed-trained nurses, focused education, and enhanced peer support.
Why are we making this change?
Current IBed patients are distributed across several inpatient units. While care has remained safe, this model can make it difficult to maintain expertise with lower-volume, higher-acuity patients and may leave IBed nurses without nearby peers who routinely care for similar patients. Cohorting is intended to improve clinical consistency, strengthen caregiver support, enhance competency development, and create more reliable escalation pathways for complex patients.
What is changing?
IBed patients will primarily be placed on:
Cardiac Telemetry (14 IBeds)
Neuro/Trauma (12 IBeds)
Placement decisions will continue to consider specialty needs, census, available resources, and clinical appropriateness.
Nursing leadership, house supervisors, charge RNs, and bed placement teams will continue to collaborate on complex placement decisions.
What providers need to know
No change to provider ordering practices. Continue ordering the level of care that is clinically appropriate for the patient.
IBed capacity is not being reduced. Combined cohort-unit capacity exceeds the current average daily IBed census.
The goal is to improve patient placement, nursing support, and patient outcomes, not to restrict access to progressive care services. RN education requirements will increase to support ongoing competency.
As with any operational change, exceptions will occur and will be addressed collaboratively in real time.
Med/Surg floors will retain the ability to staff at lower ratios for specialized patient populations, such as bariatric surgery and chemotherapy patients, whose care is best managed by the expertise available on those units.
Questions, concerns, or specific patient placement scenarios may be directed to the IBed Cohort Committee through an email to Peter Newbury.