TriVent Healthcare News

The Progressive Care Unit at Tampa General Hospital has generated impressive results, including an 83% ventilator weaning rate and 75% reduction in readmissions. The partnership between Tampa General Hospital and Special Care Unit features a joint staffing model for the hospital’s Progressive Care Unit, which weans patients off ventilators.The Progressive Care Unit provides an exceptional patient experience for patients on ventilators, with daily intensive rehabilitation efforts.The Progressive Care Unit has generated several positive results, including reducing length of stay.

Katie Hooks, 23, was living a pretty normal life, until the morning she woke up with her face swollen shut. Soon after, she was on a ventilator at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, unable to speak or move. Hooks’ journey to UAB Hospital began with what she thought was just an allergic reaction. She took some allergy medicine to try to mitigate the swelling of her face. But as the days went on, the swelling progressed to the rest of her body. She could not breathe, her body became stiff, and within months, she had completely lost her mobility and independence.

Special Care Providers (DBA Special Care Unit) recently signed a new five-year agreement to continue operating its Progressive Care Unit at Tampa General Hospital. The unit is dedicated to methodically weaning patients from ventilators using high-touch, high-frequency therapy. Ventilators are machines that move air in and out of the lungs of patients suffering from respiratory failure.