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Fall 2021 at WakeMed North Hospital – Looking Back, Looking Ahead 

WakeMed Health & Hospitals WakeMed News

Fall is here, and it’s Thanksgiving season – a time I like to reflect on all the things we have to be grateful for and the many accomplishments we have to be proud of.   

As Senior Vice President & Administrator of WakeMed North Hospital, I can confirm that it has been both a challenging and also a remarkable year for our team and this community. As we’ve continued to battle on the front lines of COVID-19, I’m incredibly grateful for the dedicated team of caregivers we have here at WakeMed North. We’re also very thankful for the ongoing support we’ve seen from our growing community as we continue to add new facilities, programs and services. As I take the time to look back and also toward the future, here’s a brief summary of how we’ve grown and what’s on the horizon here at WakeMed North Hospital.  

2021 Reflections 

It’s been a great year of expansion and milestones that have allowed our teams to better serve the growing North Raleigh community.  

  • Increased hospital capacity. Over the past year, WakeMed North Hospital has nearly doubled the number of patient rooms available for Medical/Surgical patients, increasing from 20 beds to 41 beds since last year at this time. This has allowed us to care for more patients than ever before, and to prevent many patients from being transferred to other local hospitals.  
  • Emergency department enhancements. Our emergency department (ED) volumes increased exponentially over the past two years – with more than a seven percent increase in emergency room visits and a 30 percent increase in hospital admissions from the ED.  To decrease wait times and enhance the care we provide, we have added more physicians and staff during peak hours, and have created a new process for “fast-tracking” patients with less acute illnesses and injuries. On average last month, it only took approximately 30 minutes for a patient to be seen by a provider, representing a nearly 50 percent decrease over the past six months.  
  • Baby boom! Building on our history as a women’s hospital, WakeMed North continues to have a record number of deliveries each year. This past year, our expert labor and delivery team helped bring more than 1,500 babies into the world! As always, we continue to focus on ways to enhance the patient experience for expectant families and their babies with new programs such as Family Bonding Time (see below).  
  • More specialty coverage and services. To complement the broad range of specialty services we offer, WakeMed North recently expanded our surgical services to better serve our community (particularly in general surgery and orthopaedics). We also added neurology and additional hospitalist coverage. Lastly, we added Infectious Disease consult coverage for our hospital patients. This will eliminate the need for unnecessary transfers and allow patients with infectious diseases (e.g. complex infections such as MRSA, staph, etc.) to get the highest quality care right here in North Raleigh.  
  • Top-notch Quality Scores. WakeMed North Hospital recently earned an A grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization that promotes safety, quality and affordability in healthcare. Only 32 percent of hospitals nationwide received A’s in this round of scores. To see our hospital-specific quality measures, click here. 

Looking Ahead to 2022 and Beyond  

Even with all this expansion, there’s more growing to do. Here’s a quick overview of some major plans coming up for WakeMed North Hospital. 

  • Major inpatient expansion. Starting in January 2022, we’ll begin an $18 million facility expansion to include the addition of 16 additional Medical/Surgical beds on the third floor. When this project is complete (estimated fall/winter 2022), we’ll begin construction to open our first Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on the fourth floor. A new, nine-bed ICU will allow WakeMed North Hospital to continue expanding to meet the needs of patients with higher acuity illnesses and injuries. The ICU is expected to open sometime in the fall of 2023. 
  • New procedures & specialties. Over the coming year, we’ll continue to add new and innovative procedures in unique specialty areas aimed at meeting the growing needs of our community. 

This Thanksgiving, we are most grateful for you, our WakeMed North Hospital patients for the trust you put in us and our care teams. We wish you and your loved ones a safe and healthy Thanksgiving! 

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