All my recent healthcare clients have declared a desire to focus their capital expenditures on “revenue-generating” space, meaning the portion of their facilities associated with diagnostics, procedures, or inpatient stays. The idea is that in times of increasing...
I couldn't understand why an important hospital like Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis would hang abstract art in its halls, waiting rooms, and patient rooms. I was confused by it, and so was my 85-year-old mother, who had been admitted for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I...
Installing custom water features in healthcare facilities requires much more care in engineering than installations in other facilities. Bluworld approaches installations in healthcare facilities a bit differently than in other environments. We are aware of special...
The intense and stressful healthcare workplace environment continues to challenge healthcare leaders in their efforts to improve staff recruitment and retention. According to an April 2005 news release issued by the American Nurses Association (ANA), a report released...
Integrated operating rooms (I-ORs), when optimally designed, can lessen the complexity of the most complicated environment in the hospital—the surgery suite. User-friendly, integrated technologies augment surgeons' skills and help the entire surgical team work more...
Safety of patients and medical personnel is a hot button of concern among healthcare institutions. Patient falls, infection control, medication errors, and errors made during patient hand-offs are just a few of the areas of focus. Particular attention is being paid to...
Curry Health Network, which serves rural communities on Oregon's south coast, decided earlier this year to replace the outdated facilities at Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach. Like many hospitals, it planned to continue treating patients in its original buildings...
As Mother Nature offered up a wonderful bout of late-summer sunshine this past September, a group of healthcare providers, suppliers, designers, and others convened in Hackensack, New Jersey, to examine the ecological status of our healthcare system. The result was a...
In 2004, the United States spent more than $16 billion for hospital construction, an amount that is forecasted to rise to more than $20 billion by 20101 A significant proportion of this construction is for ambulatory facilities, marking a major shift from a focus on...
Recently I heard a business consultant allude to the business philosophy of Southwest Airlines—in so many words, “With us, our customers come second.” Customers second? Who's first? According to Southwest, “number one” is staff. Since Southwest is the most (if not the...
An estimated 75% of healthcare construction projects involve an expansion or renovation of an existing hospital. The healthcare construction industry is currently experiencing tremendous growth because of advancing technology, outdated healthcare facilities, an aging...
In this age of super-size budget reductions and bariatric-size facility expansions, hospitals are increasingly looking to Lean processes. These processes don't address weight loss, but instead seek to create value through greater efficiencies and less waste in all...
