Content area
Full text
HEALTHCARE FACILITIES Research about what works and what doesn't in healthcare facilities gives industry professionals a better picture of how to design for the future
The healthcare industry is guided by painstaking research - studies and benchmarking guide treatment breakthroughs, pharmaceutical innovation, equipment design, and surgical techniques.
Without the evidence gleaned from ongoing research, healthcare would be mired in a sea of outdated medical procedures and drugs.
So, why should the facilities that house the most modern medical techniques and treatments remain trapped in the past? "Innovation in healthcare facilities has been slow and has not really been measured, proven, or disproven," notes Rosalyn Cama, chair of the Concord, CA-based Center for Health Design's board of directors and president at Cama Inc., a New Haven, CT, interior design firm.
The U.S. healthcare system is anticipating a $200 billion hospital construction boom over the next decade. The challenge is keeping these facilities modern in the areas of technology, design, safety, security, and sustainability by the time they open. Evidence-based design - making decisions about the design of a healthcare facility based on the best information available from research and project evaluations - can do just that.
And, just as evidence-based medicine has revolutionized healthcare treatment, evidence-based design is transforming the healthcare environment by providing a record of proven architectural methods that will aid in improving patient outcomes, safety, and satisfaction, as well as boost staff retention and service efficiency now and into the future.
Longevity in Design
A typical hospital construction project can take anywhere from 5 to 9 years to move from the planning stages to the day when the first patient is admitted.
According to facilities experts at Kaiser Permanente's national facilities services department in Oakland, CA, hospital construction in California typically runs between 7 and 7.5 years from the initial stages to opening for patient treatments. "If you're taking 5 to 7 years to build a building that will last 50 years, it has to be flexible," says Wendy Weitzner, co-director of strategy, planning, and design for Kaiser Permanente's national facilities services department. "You can't possibly have a building that is going to be...