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The Baylor College of Medicine-Bristol-Myers Squibb-Texas Children's Hospital-Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence was officially opened and dedicated on October 2, 2008. The 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art Centre now delivers HIV/AIDS care and treatment to more than 4,000 HIV-infected children and family members. Nearly 7,000 additional patients receive care and treatment at affiliated outreach sites. A description of some of the patient-friendly features of the Baylor College of Medicine-Bristol-Myers Squibb-Texas Children's Hospital-Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence is below.
Pharmacy: The presence of a three-window dispensing area with four serving points, and an air conditioned pharmacy store has helped to greatly reduce patient waiting time in the pharmacy. Three big refrigerators have also been provided for drug storage.
Nutrition: The nutrition unit at The Baylor College of Medicine-Bristol-Myers Squibb-Texas Children's Hospital-Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence is one of the busiest units. Nutrition assessment and counseling are now done within the unit (unlike previously when nutrition counseling was conducted in waiting area and corridors). Also, the unit has been stocked with new equipment necessary for preparing snacks and serving clients.
Waiting area: The waiting area at the Baylor College of Medicine-Bristol-Myers Squibb-Texas Children's Hospital-Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence is spacious yet cozy, making client registration and flow easier and faster. There is enough room for children to play, learn and share experiences. Reception staff can now attend to patient’s concerns more effectively because they have room to do so. Recreation services for family members and caretakers as they wait for the children to be attended to are being put in place.
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Triage: The triage rooms are now bigger, better and equipped with some of the latest clinical equipment used in the monitoring of vital signs. Nurses can now easily monitor patients quickly attend to emergencies.
Exam rooms: Before moving into the Baylor College of Medicine-Bristol-Myers Squibb-Texas Children's Hospital-Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence, two or more doctors were sharing a small room for patient consultation. This affected the quality of service delivery, especially confidentiality. At the Baylor College of Medicine-Bristol-Myers Squibb-Texas Children's Hospital-Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence, each of the ten Medical Officers is provided with a modern consultation room furnished with an x-ray viewing box, examination table and a set of ophthalmoscope and auriscope and measures for infection prevention and control. An average of 200 patients are seen in the clinic daily. About 66 new clients are enrolled into care and 45 started on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) every month.
Laboratory: Laboratory services are core to the running of any pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic. The laboratory previously was housed in one room in which both phlebotomy and microscopy examinations of patient samples were done. The laboratory at the College of Medicine-Bristol-Myers Squibb-Texas Children's Hospital-Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence occupies two rooms. Samples from all Baylor supported sites are now handled at the College of Medicine-Bristol-Myers Squibb-Texas Children's Hospital-Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence laboratory, which greatly improves service delivery and turnaround time. The majority of laboratory tests that were previously done through collaborating laboratories are now being done at the College of Medicine-Bristol-Myers Squibb-Texas Children's Hospital-Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence. A new set of equipment has also been installed to handle biochemical tests, complete blood counts and CD4 counts. On average 30-40 samples are obtained for various laboratory tests daily. Plans are under way to procure and install a viral load machine for dry blood spots (DBS) and viral load tests.