Neurologic care at the University of Kentucky Hospital is making a move this weekend. Consolidation of services offered through the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute will be found with new in-patient facilities on the hospital's fifth floor. Dr. Larry Goldstein is co-director of the Institute.
“Many of our patients are un-diagnosed when they come to us. They have a primary neurologic problem, but our job is to figure out what it is so that we can figure out how to best treat it,” said Goldstein.
Goldstein said many patients have suffered strokes, but those with brain tumors, brain injuries, or epilepsy will also be cared for. The layout of the floor will bring staff and providers to the patient’s bedside rather than the other way around. In addition to 64 in-patient rooms, the new fifth floor also features its own physical-occupational therapy gym and a radiology suite with a portable scanner.
The space will also double the number of rooms, from six to 12, for epilepsy monitoring. Dr. Meriem Bensalem-Owen is medical director for the epilepsy monitoring program.
“Not everybody will be referred to us who had a seizure, but the one that should be referred to us are complex patients who continue to have seizures, despite management with two anti-seizure medications. So, we should not be waiting to try all of them. We have about 25 to 30 anti-seizure medications,” said Bensalem-Owen.
Bensalem-Owen said patients should not have to worry about being injured or worse, die, from a seizure. The new in-patient floor also houses 32 progressive care rooms and 20 neurologic intensive care rooms.
