Mayo: Transition of Albert Lea ICU to Austin a success

Published 8:57 am Sunday, October 22, 2017

Mayo Clinic Health System’s transfer of Albert Lea’s intensive care unit to Austin about two weeks ago has gone “very well,” said the health system’s associate administrator, Kristin Johnson.

There are about six patients daily in the Austin ICU, and fewer than one patient per day is taken from Albert Lea to the unit, Johnson said.

She credited the success of the move to the efforts of hospital staff and said patients have expressed satisfaction with how the transition has gone.

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Almost all of the 19 Albert Lea nurses who were impacted by the move decided to stay in the Albert Lea, said Mayo Clinic Health System spokeswoman Mandie Siems, while a few other nurses decided to leave the organization.

“There were available positions on the Albert Lea and Austin campuses to accommodate any and all of the impacted nurses who wished to stay with Mayo,” she said.

The move was the first phase of Mayo’s planned transition of most inpatient services to Austin. Inpatient surgeries are expected to move to Austin in January, and the behavioral health center will move from Austin to Albert Lea in 2019. Labor and delivery services, to be housed in a new building, will be the last to relocate to Austin, in late 2019 or early 2020.

Electronic medical records are shared between Albert Lea and Austin campuses, meaning patients who are taken from Albert Lea to Austin have readily-available data on their medical history, according to the hospital.

Johnson said low patient levels at the two campuses made it difficult for Mayo Clinic Health System to adequately staff both facilities.

Support departments, unit staff nurses and physicians were involved with the transition, and the “vast majority” of patients will not see a change because of the transition, Johnson said.

Both Albert Lea and Austin campuses will continue to provide emergency room, primary and specialty care, pregnancy care, and lab, pharmacy and other services.

Albert Lea-Save Our Hospital Co-Chairman Brad Arends said the organization remains committed to keeping a full-service, acute-care hospital in Albert Lea. The city of Albert Lea signed a contract earlier this month with national health care consulting firm Quorum Health Resources LLC to evaluate the long-term feasibility of keeping a full-service hospital in Albert Lea.