Photo credit: Project Management Advisors Inc.
In this series, Healthcare Design asks leading healthcare design professionals, businesses, and owners to tell us what’s catching their attention and share their insights on the topic.
Doug King is vice president and national healthcare leader at Project Management Advisors Inc.., a program management company/owners representative in Chicago. Here he shares his thoughts on why hospitals are adding more retail space, the role of FQHCs in health equity, and the use of AI and robotics for material handling materials.
- Goodbye hospital cafeterias, hello stores and restaurants
Taking inspiration from bustling cafes and renovated airport terminals, healthcare operators are developing mixed-use spaces that meet contemporary tastes and needs. Hospitals are increasingly eliminating the traditional cafeteria and opting for retail, dining and shopping experiences that attract visitors, staff and patients.
For example, Northwest Medicine In Chicago, the cafeteria was eliminated to implement a robust multi-level retail program of stores and restaurants including bookstores, gift shops, newsstands, and branches of popular local restaurants. THE Peter Gilgan Hospital Mississauga in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, will implement retail and dining options as part of its original design when construction begins in 2025.
- Amenity spaces that support patients and staff
New healthcare facilities provide outdoor access for staff, patients and families across multiple levels of the building, as research shows access to outdoor spaces and green spaces can help improve patient outcomes, improve mental health of staff and providing patients’ families with a calming space. to uncompress. For example, OSF Saint-Francis Hospital in Peoria, Illinois, recently built a rooftop garden so that staff, patients and siblings of children in the pediatric and neonatal intensive care units have access to a shared green space. Peter Gilgan Hospital in Mississauga is also exploring the possibility of adding outdoor respite areas accessible to its staff, which will be spread across several levels of the facility.
Additionally, child care options are increasingly becoming a major consideration in health centers, as it can be difficult for patients without adequate child care to make appointments on time. . Missed appointments can impact provider revenue and interrupt patients’ healing journeys. Integrating childcare into medical facilities can therefore provide a positive return on investment for providers and help facilitate patient care.
- The Future is Now: Logistics Automation and AI for Material Handling
To alleviate staffing shortages, decrease the risk of infection, and increase operational efficiency, many large healthcare organizations are exploring the use of logistics automation systems, artificial intelligence (AI), and autonomous robotic vehicles to manage certain repetitive service tasks, such as internal transfer. food or linen, previously carried out by the service staff. As a result, many new healthcare environments will require designs that accommodate these technologies. For example, corridors must be wide enough to allow autonomous vehicles or robots to circulate without obstructing human circulation.
Currently, our team is engaged in a large hospital project where AI and robotics are a key aspect of the materials handling system. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) use sensors, AI and machine learning to set their own paths through hallways and transport everything from soiled laundry to lab work to medications, throughout the establishment.
This approach requires considerable initial attention to programmatic needs. Early planning is prudent because these systems are process-based and their flow should be designed accordingly. For example, early in the design process, determining whether selected elevators will be designated for AGV or AMR use can contribute to the final quantity of elevators in the facility.
- Center holistic health
Many healthcare organizations are taking a holistic “Health in All Policies” (HiAP) approach to care and branding of their facilities. Originally coined by European Union policymakers in 2006, HiAP recognizes that population health depends on policies that go beyond the health sector. These health-related considerations include access to food and transportation, ergonomics, infection control, accessibility, design for an aging population, and other amenities that promote a healthy lifestyle. It is essential to consider the needs of the population served by the establishment to meet HiAP standards. HiAP recognizes that the built environment can help or harm the health of a population. When building with a HiAP approach, health is integrated into all built conditions. A HiAP approach to healthcare design can manifest itself in several waysincluding ensuring all facilities are accessible by public transportation, providing healthy food options on site, constructing ramps and elevators to accommodate disabled and elderly patients, and arranging space to accommodate It is visually appealing with artwork and design that speaks to the interests and stories of the populations served.
- The role of the FQHC in the fight against health equity
Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) are health care’s best-kept secret and an often-overlooked approach to ensuring rural health sustainability. These outpatient facilities receive enhanced reimbursements from the federal government to provide high-quality, comprehensive primary care and preventive services to underserved populations, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.
Considering the location and design of these facilities is a necessary step to ensure they best serve these populations. There are many opportunities to convert old or unused retail or office space into centralized locations. For a project in New York aimed at housing the homeless, we considered converting a single-room hotel into a shelter for the unhoused and adapting the ground floor, formerly used as retail space for detail, in a designated FQHC clinic to better serve the community.
Want to share your Top 5? Contact editor Tracey Walker at tracey.walker@emeraldx.com for submission instructions.
