Preparations for the opening of UK HealthCare’s Gill Heart Institute’s new inpatient unit are underway, with legions of construction workers coordinating with UK Facilities Planning staff to complete fit-out of UK Chandler Hospital’s 8th floor before its scheduled opening in early December.

Once complete, the 64-bed inpatient unit will feature one of the largest cardiovascular intensive care units in the country putting some of the nation’s most advanced cardiac care in Kentuckians’ backyards.

The floor is “service-based,” which means technology such as x-ray or dialysis comes to the patient’s bedside minimizing the handoffs and transport. An echocardiography and vascular laboratory suite will be housed within the unit so that physicians can get information and make care decisions quickly.

Because Gill nursing staff cares for patients who require advanced cardiac monitoring, a Central Monitoring Station (CMS) is embedded on the floor with staff trained specifically on the unit’s equipment and protocols.

The cardiovascular floor in Pavilion A will be the first unit in Chandler Hospital to use new barcode technology for medication administration, streamlining delivery of prescribed medications to patients, minimizing medication errors and enhancing patient safety.