Thinking on a new hospital – our keys for Pisa, hospital of the future

The New Santa Chiara Hospital in Cisanello (NSC) in Pisa (Tuscany, Italy) is under construction (www.e-chiaracresce.it) as Pisa University Hospital (AOUP). The hospital has approximately 1100 inpatient beds. The AOUP has 5000 employees and currently in two hospital facilities, both pavilions. They will be brought together in a single location at the Cisanello Hospital where new buildings will connect to existing ones in a horizontal monoblock. Works will end in 2026, followed by the setting up, moving and redistribution of the activities. This impactful structural change involves transition from the current hospital organisation.

The transfer requires commitment at all levels from today. The company is now focused on managing the change for all workers, as well as for patients and caregivers. The new structure, new spaces and contiguity will change the care processes and organisation, with shared spaces in new settings. This requires a staff training and change management process and a solid smart hospital, including digitalisation at multiple levels, co-ordinated from a command centre.

Research, change management and smart hospital are our key drivers for the move to the future.

First is change management. All healthcare organisations target safe and successful care delivery, pursuing excellence in quality and safety while improving patient and family satisfaction. The NSC project will bring deep structural and technological innovation, leading to new responsibilities, roles and organisational and care delivery models in the new hospital layout. Our approach for change management is to engage the participation of workers with a bottom-up approach, believing innovation must be shared and communicated.

The 'e-Chiara' project will allow the transition of the hospital into a smart hospital model, moving from a digital maturity-level assessment towards a complete transformation of processes into an interconnected and integrated ecosystem. The NSC hospital aims to be a healing environment, patient-centred, fully connected and flexible.

The process we are undergoing, of moving from an old to a new hospital of such dimensions and such high clinical complexity, is not very common. However, we believe that our model of change, based on change management and digitalisation, can represent a winning path to results. The work is managed by a limited group of professionals. However, we have extended the involvement of all interested internal and external stakeholders with a bottom-up approach, giving perspective to all the operators involved on the opportunity for change.

Learning Objectives

Innovation
Change management Facing new architecture