We all have a lot on our plates these days, which means our time is a precious commodity. And yet, as a member of various teams and projects, it is crucial to bring the latest research and tools to the table. Knowing where to find these resources quickly and easily is the key. The Center wants to provide you with everything you need when you need it, helping to make your life a little easier. Research that's accessible, tools that are intuitive and practical, and resources that increase your knowledge base. One of the deepest and most used resources on our site is the Knowledge Repository - a one-stop, user-friendly, FREE library of healthcare design resources with nearly 4,000 citations related to healthcare design. Over 500 new citations have been added over the last year.

To keep you up-to-date with the most recent additions added in March and April, our research team has created a downloadable PDF listing these citations that cover topics such as:

As part of our continued goal to make the Knowledge Repository even easier to use, we've introduced links to papers using the DOI (digital object identifier) system. A DOI is a persistent address that identifies the location of an object, even when a website changes. Under any citation that is registered with a DOI, you will see “Click here to access this resource online”. Just click and from there you can determine whether the paper is open access or is subject to a fee by the publisher.

The Center also provides a variety of learning opportunities - sometimes in-person or through the convenience of our online offerings, that include live and on demand webinars and EBD Journal Clubs. Upcoming events include today's Boston Health Design Insights Networking Event, and the Behavioral Health Workshop. You can view all of our upcoming events on our website calendar.

In the Insights and Solutions section of our website, you will find resources and tools that will provide you with knowledge that's actionable, knowledge you can quickly incorporate into your projects, along with the latest industry news to see what others are doing. Here's just a few of the open resources you will find there:

As always, let me know what tools and resources have been helpful to you in the past, and we'll feature them in our future newsletters.

PennFIRST, an integrated project delivery team, is completing the planning and design process for the University of Pennsylvania’s new $1.5 billion hospital that will be “future-proofed” to adapt to medical changes to serve patients for decades to come.

Penn Medicine's new patient pavilion will include about 500 new private patient rooms and 47 operating/ interventional rooms in a 1.5 million-square-foot, 16-story facility. Groundbreaking was held May 3, and completion of the largest capital project in Penn’s history is expected in 2021.

The PennFIRST team is a design and construction collaborative comprising global health care design firm HDR, international architect Foster+Partners, engineering designer BR+A, L.F. Driscoll and Balfour Beatty Construction, and Penn Medicine’s clinical and facilities experts. Health Faclities Management more . . .

Australian Clinic Design Bridges Health, Well-Being

Caboolture GP Super Clinic, which opened in October 2015 in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia, supports a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to health, housing general practice, medical services, and a fitness center under one roof. Designers at Wilson Architects (Spring Hill, Queensland, Australia) fostered that effort via salutogenic design, or the creation of spaces that support health and well-being. “There’s a very strong link between feeling good and being well,” says David Hooper, executive director at Caboolture GP Super Clinic. “We’re focused on the system of the wellness concept.”

To achieve that concept, the two-story, $8 million facility is arranged with clinic spaces surrounding a glass-walled, double-height internal courtyard that’s lush with vertical gardens, large planters, and fish ponds. The clinic’s internal waiting areas and primary circulation pathways have views to the 3,767-square-foot courtyard space, which serves as an organizing element for wayfinding while providing a landscaped space with access to nature, light, and activity. “The design intent was to create a facility that’s easy to navigate and not disorienting [by establishing] strong visual connections and avoiding corridors where there’s no connection between interior and exterior,” says Brent Hardcastle, associate and project architect at Wilson Architects. Healthcare Design, more . . .

Design Guidelines for Short-Stay Patient Units

Clinical practice and improved operations are substantially reducing inpatient lengths of stay while increasing services provided in an outpatient setting.

Driven by the CMS two-midnight rule and other financial incentives, hospitals are classifying more stays as outpatient observation. For instance, Medicare beneficiaries increasingly are designated as observation patients in hospitals; the number rose 88 percent between 2006 and 2012, according to a 2012 report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

To handle these occupancies, hospitals have been building a new generation of short-stay spaces within their facilities.
Health Facilities Management, more...