Preparing Critical Care and Medical-Surgical Nurses to Open a New Hospital.

Building a new hospital is an exciting time. However significant planning is required to prepare staff to assume care of patients in an environment with new workflow changes and new equipment. The challenges of this advanced preparation are compounded when the opening of the new hospital includes the planned move of the inpatient census of patients from an existing hospital to the new hospital. Goals and objectives on the move day include patient and staff safety, with a seamless transition to the new environment. This article describes the experiences and strategies used by an adult inpatient department to successfully open a new hospital.