Phase 1: Cause for the Community Campaign
As our community grows, Ridgeview must grow with it to continue meeting the health care needs of the 300,000 residents in our seven-county service area. This growth includes investing in staff, equipment, facilities and our clinical partners to ensure our sustainability as an independent health system.
Ridgeview’s Cause for the Community campaign is a multi-year initiative to enhance several areas within our health care system. We’re completing our work in phases.
Phase 1 is focused on clinical education and advanced monitoring systems (telemetry).
Clinical Education
Clinical education is the backbone of a high-quality health care system, and it is an important recruitment and retention tool. We have identified multiple opportunities to expand our clinical education to provide advanced training and simulation technology to our care professionals. This ensures our clinical staff remain prepared for the complex care needs of our growing community.
Nurse Residency Program: In partnership with the University of Iowa, Ridgeview’s Nurse Residency Program provides additional training to our nurses. This training helps them transition their classroom learning to real-time bedside care. It also gives them the tools to build effective decision-making skills and enhance clinical judgment – ensuring the best care for our patients.
Simulation: Simulation training is a technique that replicates many aspects of a clinical situation in a realistic, interactive fashion – allowing clinicians to develop and master their skills. This allows us enhanced opportunities to teach our clinicians how to care for patients who have more complex needs.
Ridgeview’s Cause for the Community campaign will fund the following clinical education initiatives:
- Higher volume of nurses enrolled in the Ridgeview Nurse Residency Program.
- Additions to “Victoria” and “Super Tory” to allow for advanced training in CPR, electrotherapy, ultrasounds, and insertion of IVs, nasogastric tubes and tracheostomy tubes.
- Expanded space to build out Ridgeview’s simulation program to accommodate more technology.
Donate Here!
Advanced Monitoring Systems (Telemetry)
With advanced monitoring systems (telemetry), clinicians can monitor patients’ vitals from workstations outside of their room. This provides an extra layer of monitoring for our most critical patients. When there isn’t an advanced monitored bed available at Ridgeview, we must send patients to other health care systems that are nearly 30 miles away. By expanding our telemetry capabilities and adding more technology, we can care for a higher volume of patients with more complex needs. This allows us to keep patient care close to home.
Common medical conditions that require telemetry include:
- Chest pain
- Stroke/neurology
- Respiratory illness
- Cardiac history
- Congestive heart failure
- Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeds
- COVID-19
Ridgeview’s Cause for the Community campaign will fund the following telemetry initiatives:
- Add an additional 24 beds with advanced monitoring technology
- Provide 160 nurses with advanced training so they can use the advanced monitoring technology to efficiently care for sicker patients.
Donate Here!
Simulation Program
Simulation is a critical component in any successful health care system. Simulation training is a technique that replicates many aspects of a clinical situation in a realistic way. It provides a risk-free experience so clinicians can fine-tune their skills, practice advanced techniques, and develop cohesive clinical teams. This results in improved patient safety and expanded clinical capabilities, so we can provide more complex care to patients close to home.
At Ridgeview, our simulation program accomplishes two key goals for the future:
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Positions Ridgeview as a premier employer for top-notch clinicians.
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Ensures our clinical teams have the skills to care for patients with more complex needs right here in our community.
Current Ridgeview Simulation
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Future Ridgeview Simulation
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SIMULATORS:
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Additions to Victoria and Super Tory to allow for advanced training in CPR , electrotherapy, ultrasounds, insertion of IVs, nasogastric tubes and tracheostomy tubes.
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Preemie simulator – Allows staff in the NICU to practice their skills and scenarios on a smaller, more realistic preemie baby now that we’re capable of keeping babies born at 30 weeks gestation.
- Pediatric simulator –Trains our emergency department staff on ped-specific emergency scenarios, allowing them to be prepared for various situations.
- Hal, an advanced multi-purpose patient simulator.
- Wearables to simulate bedsores and other wounds, broken bones, burns, insulin injection sites and more.
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SPACE:
- Repurposing a patient room that is limited to 10 learners.
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Dedicated space with room to allow for larger groups of learners at one time. Includes a control room, conference space for debriefing and continued learning, and would resemble a current patient room for hands-on, scenario training. Will enable our current simulation lab to return to its original purpose as a patient room.
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TECHNOLOGY:
EQUIPMENT:
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Carts, pumps, procedure kits, additions for our current mannequins and more to support the trainings.
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“To continue providing the excellent care that our community expects and deserves from Ridgeview, we must expand our capabilities. By adding technology and expanding our clinical skills, we can provide care to more patients in our region who require increased levels of care.” Elaine Arion, DNP, MSN, RN; Vice President, Patient Care Services and CNO
Want to learn more?
Contact us about our Cause for the Community campaign:
Kelly Mulleady | Executive Director | 952-777-5099
Angela Hoffman | Director of Development | 952-442-6040
Nicole Hansen | Corporate & Principal Gift Officer | 952-442-8061
