By John Saccenti, Staff Writer
PRINCETON — Six weeks after having hip replacement surgery at the University Medical Center at Princeton, former borough Mayor Marvin Reed is up and about.
"I’m fine. I’m in six weeks after the operation and have my new hip in place and I’m walking around and doing very well," he said.
Whether that’s due to the fact that he was the first patient to stay in a new hospital room at the hospital is up for debate. But one that is for sure, Mr. Reed’s stay at the hospital was eye opening. Mr. Reed was the first patient to stay in a prototype of a room to be built in the new hospital currently under construction in Plainsboro.
"It was really nice. First of all I had it to myself. Secondly it had a wonderful bed — a lower rise bed that was easy to adjust and so forth — I wasn’t moving around so much anyway, but then it had a big flat screen TV screen on the wall opposite my bed and it also had a very nice sofa and easy chair for my wife and daughter to come and visit me," he said.
Mr. Reed said the room was situated in a way that made it easy for he and his family to carry on a conversation.
By staying in the room, Mr. Reed became part of an ongoing project to determine how the overall configuration of a hospital room — as well as countless details relating to the types and placement of materials, equipment and furnishings — can improve patient safety and comfort, health outcomes and the efficient delivery of health care, said a press release from the hospital.
According to the release, Princeton HealthCare System is studying how a room’s design can impact medication errors, hospital-acquired infections, patient slip-and-falls as well as satisfaction of patients, families, staff and physicians. The room was built as part of the Model Patient Room initiative and funded by a $2.8 million research grant by the Robert Rood Johnson Foundation.
"This room is an interactive learning laboratory for testing, refining and discovering ideas that will benefit patients and improve the efficient delivery of healthcare," said Barry Rabner, president and CEO of Princeton HealthCare System. "What we learn from this project will not only be of use to our hospital, but to others in the process of building or renovating hospitals.
Mr. Reed has been involved with the new hospital project since 2004, when he was named chairman of the Hospital Task Force, which included representatives from the township and borough planning and zoning boards. Borough Council and Township Committee and studied the feasibility of a hospital expansion or move.
"We saw the thing through to where the hospital agreed and we agreed that it would be better if it didn’t expand, but to move to a location like the one they’re moving to in Plainsboro," said Mr. Reed.
[email protected].
Former Princeton Borough Mayor Marvin Reed and orthopedic surgeon W. Thomas Gutowski, M.D., in a prototype room at the University Medical Center at Princeton.
