Inpatient Services
Facility/Accommodations: The Inpatient Unit is located on the Upper Level of the health center with all inpatient services being provided in this area. There are 68 licensed beds on the unit, including ten Intensive care beds and a newborn nursery. The unit was designed to facilitate a quiet, healing environment and this design has become a reality.

Levels of Care:

Med-Surg - General medical/surgical care is provided by Registered Nurses with an average nurse to patient ratio of 6 to 1. Common diagnoses for this service include Congestive heart Failure, Stroke, GI Bleed, Total Joint Replacement, Choleycystectomy and Hysterectomy.

Intensive Care - With ten monitored beds, the ICU co-workers provide care for patients who are more critically ill than those in Med-Surg beds. The ICU includes state-of-the-art cardiac monitoring equipment. Common diagnoses for ICU include Myocardial Infarction, Respiratory Failure, Stroke, Overdose and Diabetic Ketoacidosis. ICU care is provided by ICU-trained, ACLS trained Registered Nurses with an average nurse to patient ratio of 3 to 1.

Skilled - The Inpatient Unit offers the Swingbed concept for patients who are not acutely ill, but who continue to need care for further physical, occupational or mediation therapy. The beds themselves are located anywhere on the Med-Surg unit so that, in most cases, the patient does not have to be relocated to a different room as they move to this level of care. Skilled level care is provided by Registered Nurses with and average nurse to patient ratio of 6 to 1.

Mercy Family Birthplace - The birthplace is located on the Inpatient Unit itself and has four private LDRP rooms and two additional rooms for overflow use. A small newborn nursery is maintained within the birthplace and is utilized for newborn care, but the majority of mothers who deliver here utilize the rooming-in concept. The Birthplace is staffed with OB trained, NRP trained Registered Nurses who coordinate each delivery, including C-sections.

Staff: The Inpatient Unit is staffed with Registered Nurses and trained Nurse Aids as well as excellent Housekeeping support. Other members of the patient care team include Physical, Occupational and Respiratory Therapists as well as Registered Pharmacists and trained Pharmacy Technicians.

Therapy: Physical and Occupational Therapists are on the unit every day providing care to patients in conjunction with the medical and nursing staff. Speech Therapy is available when requested by a physician. Registered Respiratory Therapists are also staffed on the Inpatient Unit on a daily basis. They provide respiratory and oxygen treatments as well as ventilator management and the provision of certain diagnostic tests.

Pharmacy: The inpatient Pharmacy is located right on the Inpatient Unit. The pharmacy is staffed with Registered Pharmacists who are available for physician or nurse consultation 24 hours a day. The pharmacy provides all medications for inpatients and outpatients alike and works in conjunction with Mercy's retail pharmacy when needed. Trained Pharmacy Technicians work in the pharmacy on a daily basis and provide assistance to the Pharmacist to enable them to be available for physician questions or patient teaching.

Utilization Review: An Registered Nurse provides case management service for inpatients including discharge planning and insurance certification. The RN also provides a resource for the physicians when difficult issues arise concerning levels of care or discharge planning.