Emory orthopedics hospital puts high-tech at patient’s bedside

The flat screen TV offers Internet display, free movies and links to view a physician’s education background and a patient’s personal health record.

Emory Healthcare demonstrated its bedside interactive system for patients at a dedication ceremony Thursday for its most electronically equipped hospital.

The 45-bed Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital, which opened in September, specializes in knee replacements, total hip replacements, spine surgeries and other orthopedic operations.

The goal is to meet increasing demand for orthopedic and spinal surgery in metro Atlanta, though the recession has caused some declines in elective surgeries. Emory “is looking at the growth of Atlanta and the aging of the population,” said Lance Skelly, an Emory Hospitals spokesman.

The Tucker facility, formerly Northlake Medical Center, is designed around patient and family preferences and incorporates the latest in medical technology, Emory officials said.

“We’ve built it to do a better job for our patients and their families,” said Dr. Scott Boden, director of the hospital and an orthopedic surgeon. “We can do [surgery] more cost effectively with better patient outcomes.”

Emory bought the former HCA hospital two years ago for $17 million and sank another $16 million into renovations.

Patient and family-oriented features include sofas in rooms that convert to beds for family members; family lounges with computers, paperbacks, and washer and dryer; and a higher-priced, two-room suite that offers fine dining, including filet mignon.

There are no visiting hours — families can come and go as they please. The hospital is “not just bells and whistles,” Boden said.

Emory University Orthopaedics Hospital has rehabilitation “gyms” for physical therapy within its walls and a computerized system for ordering medications. And it features Georgia’s only digitally integrated, high-definition operating room for orthopedics, Emory physicians said.

Doctors can call up X-ray images of the patient on flat-screen monitors as they’re fixing a hip, and transmit surgeries to Emory’s medical school or elsewhere.