Perspectives

(Headshot credit: HED)

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.

Brett Paloutzian is the national healthcare business leader at architectural and engineering design firm HED, a national firm with locations in Denver, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco.

Here, he shares the top five trends and issues capturing his attention right now on how healthcare facility design will evolve with the continuous onset of artificial intelligence (AI) advancements.

1. Enhance understanding of flow and ability to anticipate capacity

Hospitals are already harnessing the power of virtual embedded mesh networks to optimize lighting, HVAC systems, and overall energy consumption. The technology automatically adjusts lighting or air conditioning depending on occupancy within a room. These mesh networks can be built into a more sophisticated electrical design, lighting design, and engineering systems and expanded to track patient occupancy and map the movement of staff, patients, and equipment throughout the facility using Internet of Things, radio frequency identification (RFID), facial recognition, and sensors. This would make the building into an information gathering tool, using AI to visualize building use data in a way that executives can use to make operational changes to improve efficiency within the business. For instance, real-time data can alert hospital leadership to unusually long procedures or prompt adjustments for increased or prolonged patient stays, ensuring a more efficient and responsive healthcare environment.

2. Create opportunities for virtual line of sight

A 2022 University of Michigan study found that direct line of sight from nursing stations positively affects post-surgery outcomes. However, integrating these sight lines into hospital design while ensuring adequate staffing is a complex challenge. In larger hospitals, having direct lines of sight to all rooms requires building in decentralized nurses’ stations with additional equipment. AI technology takes away the need for multiple decentralized nurses’ stations.  As AI technology advances, cameras, and sensors are extending these crucial line-of-sight capabilities far beyond the central nursing station. Although AI won’t replace the presence of a nurse, it empowers on-site staff to respond swiftly to emergencies. For instance, sensors in a hospital room can detect if a patient has fallen on their way to the bathroom, if breathing patterns become alarming, or if medications trigger adverse reactions. By incorporating cutting-edge technology, hospitals can instantly recognize patient issues without relying solely on direct sight lines, and they can also offer remote monitoring through virtual sight lines. This forward-thinking approach to facility design enhances patient safety and care efficiency.

3. Take the “wait” out of the waiting room

Check-in kiosks are revolutionizing the waiting room, paving the way for waiting rooms eventual obsolescence. AI administrative assistants, like chatbots, could soon handle the check-in process using individualized QR codes or comparable systems to ensure patient privacy. This would take away the check-in desk completely. Waiting rooms would become only chairs and kiosks. Or, smaller rooms to check in and immediately be helped by AI assistants. These assistants could streamline the patient experience and reduce waste by guiding patients seamlessly through the administrative portions of various procedures including blood draws, imaging, and pharmacy pick-ups, eliminating the need for multiple check-ins or redundant data collection. Even routine tasks such as recording height and weight may become automated with integrated scanners and weight pads. While human administrative staff will still be available, their presence could be significantly reduced or redirected to other departments.

4. Automate surgical procedures and planning

Robotic-assisted surgery has become a reality with advanced technology in healthcare. While the expertise of skilled surgeons remains irreplaceable, AI-assisted devices are poised to take over certain precise tasks, such as suturing. Moreover, AI can enhance preoperative planning through data-driven insights, offering surgeons well-informed strategies before they even step into the operating room. After surgery, AI-assisted robots can significantly bolster medical staff by handling tasks like wheelchair assistance, freeing up human resources for more critical responsibilities. Implementing these advancements will also necessitate careful logistical planning, such as designing separate pathways for robotic and human traffic, to ensure seamless integration into the hospital environment.

5. Train and educate

Healthcare environments are also places of learning. Therefore, developing new ways to train and educate on-site and remote staff is integral to every medical facility’s design. AI will provide an ever-expanding array of new tools including enhanced virtual reality and alternate reality headsets, analytics tools, and systems that provide personalized feedback which can help expand training within a facility. For example, students and skilled medical professionals can practice procedure simulations via virtual reality while an AI-informed bot assists or throws them curveballs. The AI tools can then analyze errors in the procedure or potential risk. Plugging data into an AI-assisted program can also help students and professionals associate symptoms with diseases, research obscure conditions, or pinpoint pharmaceutical efficacy in a particular patient. The opportunities to rethink space and technology while creating a positive environment for learning and healing are remarkable. Hospitals and healthcare facilities will need to rethink their design and layouts to accommodate for AI teaching tools in surgery patient and training rooms.

Want to share your Top 5? Contact Managing Editor Tracey Walker at [email protected] for submission instructions.