Family caregivers can spend long periods of time in the Level I trauma ICU at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y. Previously, the hospital housed a waiting room adjacent to the ICU where visitors could take a break without leaving the unit, but it wasn’t an ideal setting to have a consultation with medical professionals or try to rest, says Tom Lurcott, director of design coordination at Westchester Medical Center.
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Campus (Glasgow, Scotland), which opened to patients in July 2015, brings together Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, making it one of Europe’s largest and most advanced medical campuses.
When Golisano Children’s Hospital sought input about its current wayfinding and signage program from patient and family focus groups to help guide the design of a new eight-story, $145 million facility in Rochester, N.Y., it got some brutally honest feedback. “Your current hospital lobby is too stressful.” “I can’t make sense of this wayfinding.” “When I just need to get to cardiology, I don’t remember if that unit is named after someone.
Hospital dining should be a place of respite for patients, visitors, and employees alike, but at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the 13,500-square-foot cafeteria was serving up a dated environment.
The effort to promote and support population health and wellness has few rivals in its influence on healthcare today, inspiring the planning, design, and construction community to create environments that help providers deliver on that mission. The solutions being brought to the table vary widely, though, each in its own way answering the call. Healthcare Design asked industry members how wellness is being defined in their work—and they showed us.
The effort to promote and support population health and wellness has few rivals in its influence on healthcare today, inspiring the planning, design, and construction community to create environments that help providers deliver on that mission. The solutions being brought to the table vary widely, though, each in its own way answering the call. Healthcare Design asked industry members how wellness is being defined in their work—and they showed us.
Instead of reading 10 images for a patient diagnosis, radiologists today are faced with machines that are capable of outputting hundreds of images and a lot more detailed information than before, says Carlos Amato, healthcare principal at Cannon Design’s Los Angeles office.
Neighbors Health System (Pearland, Texas) had opened more than 20 freestanding emergency facilities in Texas and Colorado since 2008, with 10 more in the works, when it decided it was time to change its prototype.
Specifically, the regional emergency care operator wanted to rethink the traditional layout and operations of the ED to reduce the time patients wait to see a doctor. “The best way to do that is to put the doctor next to the front door,” says Dr. Setul Patel, president and CEO of Neighbors Health System.
Owner: Los Angeles County
Completion Date: July 2015
Total building area: 280,000 square feet
Total construction cost: $285 million
Cost/sq. ft.: $628
Architecture: HMC Architects (design and scoping architect), RBB Architects (architect of record)
Interior design: HMC Architects
Engineering: Saiful Bouquet
Construction: Hensel Phelps
Wallcoverings: Bacon Veneers, Acrovyn
Paint: Dunn Edwards, Frazee
Laminate: Wilsonart, Nevamar
Masonry wall: Tristone & Tile Inc.
Southeast General Hospital opened in South Los Angeles in the aftermath of the 1965 Watts Riots. For decades, the facility, which was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. – Harbor Hospital, was one of the few hospitals serving the community’s poorest residents. It had a big presence, too, housing more than 450 beds, an active trauma center, and a nearly 40-acre campus.
Not every patient approved for discharge is able to vacate the hospital bed immediately. Some might be waiting on a prescription to be sent from the hospital pharmacy while others might have to wait for a family member to pick them up.
Keeping these patients in beds for non-care-related reasons can contribute to backlogs in the admitting process and increase the time sick patients sit in the emergency department (ED) until moving upstairs.
In this series, Healthcare Design asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what’s got their attention and share some ideas on the subject.
James Heroux is a landscape architect with Copley Wolff Design Group (Boston). Here, he shares his thoughts on how landscape design can positively impact cancer patients, their families, and care teams by helping reduce stress and providing places to recharge and reflect.
1. First connection
