Renovated Johns Hopkins Hospital Building Opens

Date: November 6, 2014

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Upgraded rooms in Nelson/Harvey include sleeper chairs and colorful decorative touches to help ease stress.

With the renovation of The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Nelson/Harvey Building, the historic side of the medical campus now boasts a patient care environment on par with the state-of-the-art Sheikh Zayed Tower and The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center. 

Nelson/Harvey’s conversion to 136 private rooms marks the completion of the second phase of Johns Hopkins’ campus redevelopment plan, a milestone that was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting on Oct. 15. The refurbished building officially opened Oct. 21, on the first of three days when Department of Medicine patients moved to the new space. The Wolfe Street circle opened at that time for picking up and dropping off patients, visitors and employees. 

Updated technology and clinical support systems will enhance the quality of patient care on levels three through eight, says Mary Margaret Jacobs, director of patient/family and visitor services. “The environment will be more restful for patients and less frenetic for staff.” 

Nurses now have the same technology used in the Zayed Tower and Children’s Center, and there will be no overhead paging, Jacobs says. All nursing units are equipped with Pyxis Complete medication distribution systems stocked with frequently used drugs to reduce long waits for medications. 

Revamped elevators and floor plans afford patients and their families a comfortable and easy-to-navigate space. Family respite areas on each floor, sleeper chairs for guests in each patient’s room and colorful interior decorations will ease the stress of a hospital stay for patients and their loved ones. 

Staff members are adapting to a much larger workspace as they go from patient to patient, Jacobs says. At the same time, she notes that separate meeting spaces and break rooms on the units will contribute to a friendlier, supportive workplace. 

The move to Nelson/Harvey coincides with the closure of the Meyer Building on floors seven through nine in preparation for the third phase of the campus redevelopment plan, which begins soon after the opening of Nelson/Harvey. Meyer reconstruction plans call for 48 private beds and 18 rehabilitation rooms tentatively ready for patients by mid-2016.  

—Stephanie Shapiro

As seen in the 2016 Biennial Report. Learn more.

To see how patients will benefit from the many changes in the Nelson/Harvey building, visit bit.ly/nelsonharveytourdome.