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"Streamlining Healthcare Spaces", (c) John
Cooper, AIA, ACHA, FacilitiesCare.net (1/07) It's
no secret that the healthcare industry has experienced major changes over
the past few years. Hospitals and integrated delivery systems serve more
patients in less time and sometimes with less staff than ever before. We
have added countless rooms of technologies and new processes to support
them. And all the while, our human resources and staffing needs have
altered. We communicate and market ourselves differently and even think of
ourselves differently.
And yet, the spaces in which all these developments happen have not
changed, or at least not nearly as substantially or as quickly as the
changes in our industry have occurred. So how is this working? In many
cases, it's not.
Confining Spaces
We want healthcare spaces to inspire healing, discovery, service and
endurance. But we find ourselves in a situation where we have outgrown our
spaces. They are confining us, and not just in room size. It is true that
our formats and our environments are dated. However, our technologies and
standards of care are not. As a result, in many cases, we are limited by
our settings.
For instance, the average hospital system is technologically 10 to 20
years behind the local Wal-Mart. When a checker scans your purchased item,
the scanner immediately notifies the distribution center of the purchase
and puts a replacement item on a truck. On the other hand, when checking
into a hospital, a patient typically waits in a room and provides the
appropriate data to be inputted into the system by an employee. The
patient again waits and sometimes is sent to a new area to experience this
same process again. Hours later, collected information is still not
processed or aggregated. And this is just the check-in procedure.
Situations like this are multiplied and compounded across systems
everyday. Often these are not technology issues, but rather space or
process issues. We have long possessed the technology to easily apply an
updated and streamlined approach. It simply needs to be architected.
Discovering Dream Space
Many hospitals have realized that their environments and their processes
are not up to standard. Consumers have more choices than ever before so
healthcare systems must rise to the occasion in order to be competitive.
Hospitals are finding that streamlined spaces and approaches help them
to do just that. They build consumer confidence and trust. They create
recruiting and retention means for employees. They deliver more efficient
systems and methods that directly impact the bottom line.
Architects see this trend happening. As consumers, we are glad it is. We
would always choose systems and experiences that are updated and
integrated. We would choose that for ourselves, our families and our
communities. Leaders should consider the following essential principles
when designing or redesigning a new healthcare environment:
 | Consider Your Brand. Your brand is your promise. Your space should
reflect that promise. Does your facility accurately communicate what the
hospital is and what that means to patients, to employees and to
families? Does your lobby say this also? Your message should reinforce
your brand, which will support, enhance and fulfill the perception of
your business. Some hospitals offer the promise of a healing, hometown
environment, designed with comfortable family rooms with "simulated"
fireplaces and kitchens where staff or loved ones bake cookies. |
| Consider Your Plan. Align the design of your space with the goals of
your business plan. Consider not only where you are, but also where you
want to go and grow. Form a real estate strategy, and keep your short-
and long-term goals in mind. If you have aspirations to offer more
surgeries, create space for that. Consider what is new and upcoming in
technology. This is understandably a tricky venture. After all, in the
old days, technology was just a telephone jack. But now we have the
ability and opportunity to create hospital campuses with technologies
ranging from wide-band Internet access to robotic surgery. |
| Consider Your Customers. Entering any foreign setting is stressful,
and for most consumers, a healthcare facility and its language is
definitely foreign and can be overwhelming. When stress levels are up,
outcomes are down. Evidence-based design has been proven and is true.
Healing architecture saves lives. So modern hospitals are doing
everything they can to create a healing environment with comfortable
seating, landscaped areas, family rooms and accommodations, stocked
bookshelves and coffee houses and the list goes on. |
| Consider Your Culture. Employees are a hospital's biggest investment
and most important asset. In addition, employees, especially nurses,
cite their working environment as the No. 1 reason that they make an
employment change. With so many current recruiting and retention issues,
healthcare systems are creating facilities to foster and complement
their employee culture. To achieve this, facilitate a visioning process.
Bring representatives from a variety of groups around a table to hear
their critical elements and aspects. Through this, we have found that
designing areas of "safe harbor" or "purging" can be incredibly
meaningful to an overworked, overstressed nurse. You would be surprised
how simple changes can make big changes in employee satisfaction. And
when employees are happy and comfortable, patients experience the
difference. These simple investments of thought and planning are an
immeasurable investment. |
The bottom line is there is a lot to consider. So where do you start?
Begin with your organization's leaders. Then bring in outside expertise,
individuals who know industry movement and cycles of cause and effect.
Discuss what you need, and then discover what has been proven to work.
Bring in an industry architect who knows the needs, requirements and
restrictions of healthcare. All the while, bring people around the table
who are forward thinking. And bring these people in early. Early
involvement means smart planning. Changing plans mid-course is always less
effective and always more expensive.
Improvement starts with vision and ends with people. Remember this when
you are making your improvements to address inevitable change. Also
remember that change can be good for people, for processes and for profit.
So do not fight it, benefit from it. |
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