In one of Pensacola Naval Hospital’s oldest medical record books, a male patient, age 64, died of rheumatism in 1876. A female patient, age 5, died of brain fever that same year. Also listed in 1880 is a 30-year-old male patient whose cause of death is simply listed as “a gun.”
Navy medicine has come a long way since 1876.
From new facilities and electronic records to staff training and outpatient care, growth and change have been necessary for Navy medicine to keep up with its patients in this age of technology.
“The way we provide health care has changed radically,” said Michael Zealor, health systems specialist at Pensacola Naval Hospital. “We’ve changed with the times with health care and how the delivery of health care is done.”
Zealor, who has been with the hospital for 27 years, said he remembers when patients would come in to get their gall bladder removed and would be in the hospital for two weeks. Today, patients are in and out in hours.
Pensacola Naval Hospital has been a long-standing presence in the community, now operating out of its sixth facility.
Its first was a two-story brick building built between 1833 and 1835.
This facility, which remained in operation through the beginning of the Civil War, has long been gone but the 12-foot-high brick wall that was built around it — when people thought mosquitoes couldn’t fly that high — is still standing.
From 1862 to 1976, five new facilities would be built, the last being named the Naval Aerospace and Regional Medical Center, later being changed to Pensacola Naval Hospital.
Betty Canavan, manager assistant to the director for branch clinics, has been with the hospital for 33 years and remembers walking through the Building 3600 location aboard Pensacola Naval Air Station before it was finished being built.
“I’ve seen this directorate grow tremendously over the years,” Canavan said. “We cover five states and we have 10 clinics.”
Lt. Cmdr. Gabrielle Crane remembers when the hospital changed to electronic medical records. Despite some resistance, the switch was complete within a month.
“Everyone’s scared of change, especially the nurses who had been here for a while,” she said.
One of the biggest changes much of the hospital staff has seen is in the training nurses and corpsmen have received. Crane said nursing has changed greatly in the sense that it’s more specialized.
“Nurses spend more time and have more empowerment and autonomy, I think, than in the past,” she said. “And we really encourage that — encourage advanced degrees, encourage certifications and professional development.”
When working with nurses in the ’70s and ’80s, Cmdr. Tim Drill said they had to have a broad spectrum of knowledge and be cross-trained.
“You could be working mental health for your shift but you would be in the upper unit room if a case happened after hours as a circuit lady nurse, and be a part of that surgical team and recovery team.”
Drill said at that time, hospital staff wasn’t as mission-focused as it now. Today, medical readiness is based on patient-centered care, which is one of the greatest changes in Navy Medicine, according to Drill.
With this type of care, outpatient facilities such as the Urgent Care Center are able to reduce the amount of patients having to stay at the hospital.
With just 26 beds, most don’t have to be used because patients are able to make appointments, be seen and be out of the UCC fairly quickly.
With 2014 coming to a close, staff at the hospital expect the same patient-centered care they’ve had implemented since day one.
“Some people look at it as ‘this place has survived,’ ” Drill said. “The footprint is here and it’s here to stay.”
“People are still going to get what they need from us and get it in a better way … (we’ve got) awesome care, awesome people, individuals exploiting themselves, having a good time doing it — what can be better?”
