Contract - October 2011 - (Page 52)

evidence-based design (continued from page 50) As the design process begins, innovative design interventions are hypothesized to maximize the achievement of strategic goals and objectives. The EDAC community committed to this process has also worked collaboratively through The Center for Health Design and its affiliates, particularly The Pebble Partners, who openly share incremental progress so that the flow of proven and, more importantly, disproven design interventions are shared. Although the methodology has not changed since my book was published, this important piece of the process has become much more acceptable allowing for timeefficient consensus building and shorter innovation cycles. Innovation cycle spurs radical changes It is in the foreshortened innovation cycle that the progress is being made and the domino effect engages. For example, once we recognized the evidence-based design advantages of the single-bedded room, the like-handed room was hypothesized to reduce errors. That gave way to the positioning of the headwall bathroom to reduce the incidence of falls. Evidence-based driven healthcare project teams now feel comfortable discussing radical changes in the design of the environment of care using this methodology. The body of knowledge is advancing rapidly and is most clearly organized around outcomes related to safety, workplace performance, market share improvement, and customer loyalty. When all are in alignment, then the customer experience improves and coveted hospital ratings rise. Thus, the impact is felt beyond the level of the design studio and beyond the hospital administrative levels to state and federal regulatory agencies. Evidence-based design has also fueled advancements in regulatory standards that are aligning with this growing knowledge base. “Key industry organizations and universities such as the American Institute of Architects Academy of Architecture for Health, The Center for Health Design, and Facilities Guidelines Institute of the American Society for Healthcare Engineers are increasingly collaborating to pool their “Today, the skepticism toward evidencebased healthcare design has dissipated as familiarity has grown into widespread adoption. The concerns are less about justifying its validity and more about how it can assist in streamlining and improving efficient and effective models within organizations that are being driven toward the operational leanness of government-sanctioned health reform.” resources to focus on research topics that are high priority for the industry. The Facilities Guidelines Institute is actively supporting guideline changes to be more evidence-based and is funding research studies that will help inform guideline changes,” says Dr. Joseph. The pressure for advancement has also reached the level of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requiring healthcare providers to comply within the guidelines of certain performance measures in order to maintain payment for such performance. Providers are ripe for any tools to mitigate risk of failure to perform. Evidence-based design is proving to have a significant payoff. Advances in technology are another catalyst for evidence-based design advancement. Technological advances generally require significant adjustments to infrastructure. These adjustments open the door for radical shifts in the operational models as well as the design of the built environment. Evidence-based design goes hand-in-hand with these adjustments. With a growing base of knowledge about how to improve outcomes, an arsenal of new tools exist for performance and advancing regulations that lead to payment for performance. Small groups of innovators like those engaged in The Pebble Project will spur each other on to develop more efficient, effective, safe, and equitable environments of care. These advancements are now moving to the classroom. New models for educating future health clinicians are using a multidisciplinary approach in environments that are keeping pace with newer (continued on page 54) The University Medical Center at Princeton of Plainsboro (UMCPP) hypothesized that patient room design with familiar orientations would reduce errors, falls, and the spread of infection while improving the quality of care delivery based upon evidence-based design interventions. Pictured is Dr. Susan Lorenz, UMCPP CNO, who is conducting interim research in UMCPP’s functional mock-up patient room. 52 contract october 2011 www.contractdesign.com Photo courtesy of HOK / RMJM-Hillier / CAMA, Inc. http://www.contractdesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - October 2011

Contract - October 2011
Contents
Editorial
Industry news
Product briefs: healthcare
Product focus: caregivers need care, too
Product focus: above + below
Product focus: glass for health
Advancements made in evidence-based healthcare design
The power of design
Less clinical, more hospitable
Beautifully lean
Raising the bar
New life
Urban sanctuary
The 2011 healthcare environment awards
Designers select: healthcare products
Ad index
Perspectives

Contract - October 2011