HCD Guest Author

A group of well-meaning politicians crafted the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), in an effort to make schools accountable for improving student performance. The law required all schools to test the reading and math skills of 2nd through 12th graders. How well the students progressed year after year toward proficiency in these subjects was directly tied to the federal funding the schools received, with other punitive actions potentially coming into play if schools continued to underperform.

Many types of patients no longer meet inpatient admission criteria but still need to remain in a hospital bed for significant amounts of time, even though reimbursed as outpatients. So what’s the most appropriate setting for these patients that promotes the best clinical outcomes and patient/family experience, but doesn’t use the space and resources of an inpatient unit? 

Some of these short-stay patients include:

Once fairly standardized, exam rooms are evolving to address changes in delivery models and technology. In the past, most non-exam activities took place at different locations in a clinic. However, as more healthcare services flow toward the patient, the exam room is becoming the central location for care delivery—from standard exams to specialized procedures.

A typical exam room is not necessarily typical anymore. Yet there are still common features in all exam rooms: the patient zone, the care provider zone, and the partners-in-care (family) zone.

The results are in! Each year at the Healthcare Design Expo & Conference, The Center for Health Design conducts a very informal survey to discover the topics that are top of mind for attendees. Prior to the show, The Center’s staff narrows down a potential list of topics to 24 general themes that we’ve been tracking throughout the year. Then, during the event’s four days, we provide each attendee who visits our expo floor booth with three wooden tongue depressors for voting.

Green roofs on hospitals are more common than you might think. Have you designed a green roof? Has your facility installed one?

The benefits may include improved patient, visitor, and staff experience; energy savings; increased roof life; reduced noise levels; mitigation of urban heat island effect; and rainwater management.

A green roof could be included in a new construction project, or it could be a retrofit of an existing roof area. In either case, the very beginning of your visioning process should start with the end users.

At a recent meeting of the Built Environment Network, member Don Orndoff, senior vice president of Kaiser Permanente National Facilities Services, talked about the softening of the boundary between when we’re receiving healthcare and when we’re just living our lives. The visual of that concept, the blurring of that line, resonated with me.

As the healthcare industry shifts toward outpatient care, healthcare organizations are reevaluating clinic planning to meet evolving patient needs. Once-standard waiting rooms, workstations, and exam rooms are evolving to accommodate new delivery models for a diverse patient base.

The goal for healthcare organizations is to meet changing programming needs—and that starts with sound planning. Below are four industry factors affecting clinic planning.