HealthSept15

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Delivering
a Healthy Start
Family Centered Care at Orange Park Medical Center
By Nan Kavanaugh | Cover photography by Woody Huband
When it comes to giving birth, finding the right hospital can be daunting. A balance
between cutting edge technology and a warm, caring environment is what most
seek. At Orange Park Medical Center, synchronizing the best of both worlds for
optimal results is their mission when it comes to family and women’s health.
Dr. Arden Quintin (left) and
Patricia Ebeltoft, RN, BSN, work in the
Level 2 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
at Orange Park Medical Center.
The NICU is staffed with neonatologists
and advanced neonatal nurse
practitioners, which means babies with
special needs can get the high level of
medical attention they require.
We take a holistic
approach when it comes
to care that is patient
centered rather than
focused on a business model,” says
Dr. Ted Shah, chairman of obstetrics
at Orange Park Medical Center.
“Patient safety is our number one
concern. The path of the patient from
registration to leaving the hospital is
amazing.”
Dr. Shah would know. His practice
alone has delivered upwards of 30,000
babies at Orange Park Medical Center.
“I had a father notice his newborn baby
was jaundiced after they had brought
him home. He had tried to reach out to
the pediatrician, but was told it would
be two weeks before that doctor would
see the baby. So he came back to us.
He said, ‘I feel safe here.’”
Putting the patient first is an essential
element of the philosophy at Orange
Park. The hospital consistently strives
to improve not only its own internal
mechanisms for performance, but also
has worked to provide services needed
within the community. From being
one of the only regional hospitals
with a Level 2 NICU to providing full
spectrum gynecological care, patients
don’t have to transfer to another
hospital when faced with issues that
require specialized services.
“We don’t want to send patients
away to a hospital somewhere else
in the region. We want to keep them
here, with the doctors and nurses they
know,” says OB/GYN Dr. Jade Pizarro.
“This is very reassuring to our patients.
The hospital doesn’t have an urban
inner city feel. We are the only hospital
in Clay County that delivers babies,
and we take a strong community
approach to care.”
Physicians and nurses work together
to provide a seamless experience
for patients. Much of this is due
to specialized training to ensure
collaboration and communication is
excellent. For example, all personnel
providing Labor and Delivery services
were recently required to receive
certification in Electronic Fetal Heart
monitoring, something well taught in
medical training, but as the technology
has progressed, new aspects of routine
monitoring have developed as well.
“When we communicate, we are
all using the same nomenclature.
Nomenclature can vary from institution
to institution, and overall this