The person in charge of maintaining and building that trust is Charlotte Knight, R.N., the nurse manager of the progressive care unit. Knight was tapped nearly two years ago to manage this pilot program for chronically, critically ill patients. She credits her staff, which includes nurses, unlicensed personnel, social workers, physical therapists, an outcomes manager, and a respiratory therapist. And the nursing staff is the key to this unit. The progressive care unit allows St. Luke's to transition patients into acute or sub-acute care.
Patients come to the unit from all over the hospital, staying an average of about four days.
The care patients receive during that time is critical to their successful discharge from the hospital. Patients in the progressive care unit are typically those who need intensive monitoring but not intensive interventions. But I wouldn't ask them to do anything that I wouldn't do myself. Knight and her staff care for the patients while actively encouraging and preparing them to transition to a different level of care. Transitioning patients out of the progressive care unit is the goal that Knight and her staff work toward every day because, she says, that's what's best for the patient and their families.