How to navigate the expanded Clements University Hospital

Click the image for a larger version.

The expansion of William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital will require a change to the patient room numbering system. To determine how best to accomplish this, faculty and staff were surveyed and presented with several choices. More than 1,800 people voted for the following option, which will go into effect this summer. 

Room numbers will increase traveling from south to north, with odd room numbers on the west corridor (Wyche Boulevard side of the building) and even numbers on the east corridor (Harry Hines Boulevard side of the building).

The patient room renumbering project is scheduled to begin May 20 on Level 12 and will work down through Level 5 on successive Mondays, with completion expected before July 1.

To make the transition as smooth as possible:

  • Schedules, communication tools, and training will be provided to Clements University Hospital (CUH) staff.
  • Information Resources, Hospital Facilities, Office of Safety and Business Continuity, Hospital Operations, and clinical representatives are working together to ensure all impacted hospital and facility support systems are changed simultaneously.
  • Members of these teams will also be present on each unit throughout the transition to answer questions and assist throughout the process.
  • Downtime procedures will be used as needed during each renumbering event to support operations impacted by renumbering. Impacted departments will be notified of the need to institute downtime procedures.  

Important to know:

  • Room numbers have been vertically stacked as much as possible. For example, rooms 638, 738, and 838 are stacked to facilitate wayfinding by those whose work involves moving from floor to floor.
  • The new system provides patient room numbering consistency for Levels 5-12.
    • Rooms 1-32 will always be in the Blue Tower. (For example, rooms 501, 616, 832, etc. are all Blue Tower rooms.)
    • Rooms 33-65 will be Green Tower rooms.
    • When the new tower is complete, rooms 66-99 will be Orange Tower rooms.
  • Tower colors will be fully incorporated into wayfinding, unit designation, and patient room signage.
  • Visitor elevators will be identified by color: Blue, Green, and Orange elevators (instead of South visitor elevator and North visitor elevator).
  • Visitor elevators and patient care units will be identified by color.

Staff elevator names are also changing:

  • South staff elevator bank becomes Staff Elevator Bank 1.
  • Central staff elevator bank becomes Staff Elevator Bank 2.
  • North staff elevator bank becomes Staff Elevator Bank 3.
  • New tower staff elevator bank will be Staff Elevator Bank 4.

For questions, Thea.Vanderhill@UTSouthwestern.edu Thea Vanderhill.