New $300 million Illinois hospital delivers high-quality care to underserved citizens

Citizens of O’Fallon, IL, and adjacent cities located east of St. Louis, MO, are now being served by a newly constructed $300 million hospital and health center.

HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital is a member of Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS), a faith-based organization of 15 hospitals in IL and WI with a healthcare ministry that promotes wellness for millions of citizens.

This facility, which opened in November 2017, enables physicians and staff to provide advanced services in surgery, medical imaging, laboratory, the emergency department, and other areas. The hospital offers efficiently designed rooms that allow nurses to spend more time with patients at the bedside, and deluxe amenities for patients in the Women and Infants Center.

Advanced imaging systems for radiography, fluoroscopy, CT, MR, and ultrasound play a vital role in diagnosis and care. In this newly designed hospital, these modalities are located in a central area, so patients can be easily moved from one imaging system to another. If a physician looks at an MR and then wants a CT, it only takes about 10 minutes to move the patient and capture another study. This efficient imaging workflow expedites diagnosis and treatment and enhances productivity.

Three Carestream DRX-Evolution Plus room-based radiography systems provide high-resolution diagnostic images for orthopaedic, cross-table, chest, spine, and other imaging studies. These DR rooms enable radiographers to efficiently capture weight-bearing images and complex cross-table exams that specialists require for diagnostic and treatment decisions.

High-quality images help spine and joint surgeons, pediatric specialists and other physicians who request long-length, scoliosis, and other X-ray exams to diagnose and treat advanced spine and extremity problems as well as other orthopaedic conditions. Autostitching software can join up to five images to produce long-length images.

Automated imaging systems also benefit technologists by moving heavy overhead X-ray tubes into position to help reduce fatigue and repetitive stress injuries caused by manual manipulation.

Technologists use three Carestream DRX-Revolution portable imaging systems to capture bedside images for patients in the ER, NICU, surgical suites, recovery areas, and inpatient rooms as well as outpatient areas. Carestream fluoroscopy systems perform modified barium swallow studies to verify that a patient can eat without aspirating food. They also perform upper and lower GI exams and examine the performance of the esophagus to make sure patients can safely ingest food.

The hospital’s two Siemens CT systems are used 24 hours a day for a wide range of imaging exams as well as liver and lung biopsies and studies to assess if a patient has had a stroke. Stroke protocols are deployed by a specially trained team that performs and assesses CT/angiogram vascular studies. Staff members also may gain information from ambulance workers or family members who come to the hospital with the patient. A Siemens MR system is used around the clock to evaluate a variety of conditions ranging from neurology issues to injured or ill patients presenting in the ER.

Toshiba ultrasound systems help physicians diagnose the causes of pain, swelling, and infection in the body’s internal organs and are excellent tools for prenatal exams and imaging studies for infants. Additionally, the radiology staff uses ultrasound to help guide biopsies, diagnose heart conditions, and assess damage after a heart attack.

Physicians and staff members are thankful for ongoing technological improvements that continue to enhance the care and diagnostic results they provide for patients. These advances include 3D imaging that will allow physicians and specialists to rotate a reconstructed image to detect subtle abnormalities and diseases or damaged anatomy that is hidden by other structures.