Inside Duke Medicine
Break room with a view inspiring for infusion nurses
posted January 16th, 2012
Nurses are looking forward to the staff lounge on Level 4 of the Cancer Center, which features a stunning view of Duke Chapel.
Ask the nurses of the Oncology Treatment Clinic in the Morris Building to rate their current staff break room and you get an average score of “OK.”
Ask about their new space on the Level 4 of the new Cancer Center facility and you can tell just by the smiling faces that it will receive an A+.
The current break space is functional, but it is just a few feet from where cancer patients receive treatment. The windowless room is cramped, in no small part because it is trying to serve three functions at once – restroom, locker room and staff lounge.
“It’s going to be so much nicer to not have lockers and a restroom inside the actual break room,” said Bethany Clements, RN, OCN, CSN IV. “We are so looking forward to it.”
Clements and the rest of the infusion staff will be relocated to the fourth floor of the new Cancer Center.
On that floor, and throughout the facility, staff break rooms, toilets and lockers are separate rooms located in staff-only sections, respectfully away from treatment areas. In addition, as in the patient areas of the facility, staff spaces have large exterior windows, which bring in natural light and provide a view of greenery and the campus.
“We can see the Duke Chapel from our new break room,” said Tracie Ingle, RN, OCN, CSN III, who like Clements has toured their new work spaces. “Clearly a lot of thought and planning went into it and all the parts of the clinic."
The Cancer Center’s design is based in large part on feedback from staff and patients.
“Nurses told us that there was a need for more natural light, and not only for patients. This request has been incorporated throughout the building,” said Tracy Gosselin, associate chief nursing officer, Oncology Services. “This synched up with the best research, which shows that natural light and views of nature in a health care setting not only make the environment more pleasant, but also reduce stress.”