December 1, 2016

The Scoop

Pioneering the Future

Each year, The Center for Health Design’s Board of Director’s selects a person or organization that has contributed to our field in a significant way and awards them the Changemaker award in acknowledgement of their accomplishments.  This year the Changemaker award went to two people whose individual accomplishments lead to their joining forces to create and then co-edit the HERD Journal, the preeminent peer reviewed journal in our industry. Both Jaynelle Stichler and Kirk Hamilton have had pioneering careers and are known to be innovators and longtime leaders in the healthcare design community.

Kirk Hamilton, currently a Professor of Architecture at Texas A&M University, was instrumental in helping to create the now standard definition for the term “evidence-based design”. He has focused his academic research on the relationship of evidence-based health facility design to measurable organizational performance. He was also instrumental in the creation of the EDAC program.

Jan Stichler is one of the pioneers in our industry. She was one of the nation’s first nurse consultant in the design of healthcare environments. Jan’s research focuses on the effect of the work environment, including facility design and leadership, on organizational performance and patient provider outcomes. She is Professor Emerita of Nursing at San Diego State University and was instrumental in the founding of the Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design.

During the conference, longtime friend of The Center, Don McKahan, interviewed the award recipients as part of a general session so the audience could hear their "war stories" and learn more about their personal journeys that brought them together to found the HERD Journal.  Also in the audience was Naomi Sachs, who has worked alongside Kirk and Jan as the editorial assistant for HERD for the past three years and has recently been named the third co-editor of the HERD Journal, ensuring it’s continuity and success for many years to come. 

Congratulations to them all,

Debra Levin, EDAC
President and CEO

Designing Healthcare Facilities with Virtual Reality

More than 600 studies link aspects of hospitals’ built environments to staff stress and effectiveness, patient safety, patient and family stress and healing, and improved overall healthcare quality and cost, according to research* conducted by Roger Ulrich and Craig Zimring.The built environment provides a setting for human activity – and often influences our mood and behavior.

As healthcare systems’ built environments evolve, so do the construction methods we use to transform these environments. One non-traditional method changing the construction industry for the better is virtual reality.

When most people think of VR, they picture a gamer in a headset, swinging a remote to fight off the enemies he’s battling in his video game. But, thanks to the gaming world’s quickness to embrace VR, the technology is rapidly evolving, making way for more practical uses in a variety of industries, especially healthcare.
Healthcare Facilities Today, more...

The Road Map to a Strong Population Health Program

Population health management can have wide benefits across the spectrum of care, and health systems looking to get into the game should incorporate several key operational goals, according to a new report.

America’s Essential Hospitals brought together a variety of stakeholders over the course of a year, according to a post announcing the report, and those different voices pointed to three steps for building population healthprograms: have a strong foundation, bring needed resources together and take a community-centered approach to care. Fierce Healthcare, more...

Design in City: Ambulatory Care Tactics for the Modern Healthcare Consumer

Ambulatory care providers in urban settings operate in an increasingly competitive environment. Especially in large cities, people often have a choice between healthcare facilities close to home, work or other frequent destinations. Thanks to smartphones and mobile apps like ZocDoc, there’s also a world of information at our fingertips.

With a few taps of the thumb, you can locate the nearest clinic, read crowd-sourced reviews, look up average wait times, find the menu and cost of procedures available and instantly book appointments. So much information is available to guide decisions about where to seek care that modern patients are increasingly becoming “healthcare consumers.”

So what does a healthcare consumer value? Convenience and affordability.
Medical Construction & Design, more ...

Having It All: New Trends In Clinic Design

It’s no secret that healthcare organizations across the country are shifting more and more services out of acute care settings. The move makes sense on a number of fronts, not least of which is the ability to reduce costs and improve outcomes all while increasing access and growing market share. “The sheer volume of clinics being considered and built now is a stunning difference in the last five to 10 years,” says Ted Shaw, associate principal at Perkins+Will (New York).

The development of clinics—the catch-all term for pretty much any site that provides outpatient care, according to those who build them—is further inspired by healthcare reform pressing the need for population health management, with providers more invested than ever in keeping people well. That mindset is requiring solutions like medical home models of care delivery and inspiring new builds and renovations that support collaborative, team-based environments, says Christine Guzzo Vickery, vice president at HGA Architects and Engineers (Minneapolis) and coauthor of Modern Clinic Design: Strategies for an Era of Change, published in 2015. Healthcare Design, more . . . 

Taking a Data-Driven Approach to Environmental Services Operations

From meeting HCAHPS standards for room cleanliness and noise to lowering operating expenses as part of a Lean initiative, environmental services (ES) professionals are facing significant challenges.

All ES professionals should have access to data related to their departments and the facilities they help to maintain. These data can help them provide the best outcomes for the patients they serve.

Data collection may seem daunting, but the long-term rewards can be significant if the data are put to use.
Health Facilities Management, more . . .

The Center’s work is made possible with the funding support of our Partners: