Rachel Hendrickson, Wold Architects and Engineers

Rachel Hendrickson (Image credit: Wold Architects and Engineers)

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.

Rachel Hendrickson is a healthcare planner and principal at Wold Architects and Engineers (St. Paul, Minn.), a national architecture and engineering firm that specializes in healthcare design.

Here, she shares her thoughts on supporting mental health through design, driving eco-friendly facility designs, and planning for staff safety and workforce shortages.

  1. Prioritizing mental health and patient comfort

As the healthcare landscape evolves to prioritize mental health in the care experience, patient-centric design must ensure that spaces promote both healing and comfort.

From welcoming lobbies to private crisis rooms, every space should be carefully crafted to prioritize the well-being of patients, their families, and the team members who care for them.

Artwork and murals that feature calming colors (such as cool natural greens and blues) or depictions of nature environments as well as sensory walls, comfortable chairs and furniture, and naturally lit spaces can support mental wellness.

In patient rooms, less-disruptive call technology that utilizes smartphones in lieu of continuous dings and beeps helps patients maintain a sense of calm while still knowing their care professionals can assist them at the push of a button.

  1. Putting sustainability first

While the healthcare industry supports the wellness of patients, it must also remember to prioritize the health of our planet. Recognizing the significant environmental impact of healthcare facilities, architects and other stakeholders in the healthcare space must implement tactics to reduce carbon emissions and enhance environmental sustainability, such as energy-efficient insulation, solar panels, or eco-friendly and recycled materials.

Healthcare leaders can look to the AIA 2030 Commitment as a north star for guiding transitions to more sustainable, carbon-neutral building and operating practices. Additionally, states like Colorado are implementing their own sustainability requirements through initiatives like the new Building Performance Colorado (BPC) program to help building owners reduce their emissions and energy costs.

  1. Plan ahead and budget for resilience

In light of the ongoing risk of tumultuous weather events in the United States, healthcare facility stakeholders want to build resilient structures that can withstand tornadoes or tropical storms and operate efficiently with backup and redundant services no matter the conditions outside.

During the planning and design stages of a renovation or new building, budgeting for resilience in the early stages helps reduce costs for performance design tactics over time and better prepare infrastructure for potential climate or manmade disasters. For example, spending more up front on materials such as ballistic windows or hurricane-grade frames can help a facility avoid having to replace exterior building materials each time a storm impacts a structure.

Improvements to a facility’s operational resilience go hand-in-hand with sustainable design practices, too. The more eco-friendly and energy-efficient a hospital is the fewer generators will be needed to power it in an emergency. The FEMA-361 standard also offers guidance on design considerations for facilities that can benefit from enhanced protection against environmental factors.

  1. Staff safety is essential

Recent research has shown an unfortunate increase in workplace violence. In a 2022 survey by National Nurses United (Oakland, Calif.) the nation’s largest union of registered nurses, 48 percent of more than 2,000 nurses who responded to the survey reported an increase in workplace violence—more than double the percentage from a year earlier.

Combine this figure with an increase in attacks against healthcare providers correlating with the COVID-19 pandemic and there’s a harsh reality that protective measures are more essential than ever.

Design considerations can include keeping staff and patient interactions visible and orienting workstations and assessment areas such that staff can serve patients without taking their eyes off the rest of the space. Implementation of security systems into the built environment through small cameras in waiting rooms and hallways or automatically locking doors to secure areas must also be considered for full coverage and safety from threats.

  1. Navigating staffing shortages

While the healthcare industry may take every measure to enhance the work experience for staff, including designing safe environments for care, we still face the reality of a reduced healthcare workforce as staff depart the industry due to burnout.

To account for staffing shortages, healthcare planners must consider how to help these facilities thrive while reducing operational costs and maintaining functionality with less staff. Implementing multipurpose workstations at key points Implementing multipurpose workstations at key points, such as near storage rooms or break rooms, can help smaller employee teams manage necessary tasks while reducing time spent navigating a larger healthcare campus.

Telehealth services, offered in smaller rooms or areas, can also reduce the volume of on-site patients, freeing up staff to tend to those who need in-person care. The use of automated technology, such as artificial intelligence and delivery robots, can be used in both low- and high-level tasks, allowing staff to focus their time and energy on work that requires human expertise.

Each facility will need to consider the communities they serve, especially whether they’re rural or urban, and what design and functionality options will provide the best care possible.

Rachel Hendrickson is a principal at Wold Architects and Engineers (St. Paul, Minn.) and can be reached at [email protected].

 

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