February 8, 2018

The Scoop

Inspire, Mentor, Collaborate

It's already that time of year again - when we ask our community to nominate an individual or an organization that has made a difference in the world of healthcare facility design for the Changemaker Award. Given annually by The Center for Health Design's Board of Directors at Healthcare Design Expo & Conference, this award honors individuals or organizations that have demonstrated an exceptional ability to change the way healthcare facilities are designed and built, and whose work has a broad impact on the advancement of healthcare design. 

Why nominate someone?

• To recognize for an individual or organization that has changed the way healthcare facilities are designed and built, and whose work had a broad impact on the advancement of healthcare design.
• To give the potential recipient an opportunity to share lessons learned about changing the healthcare design industry with colleagues at the annual Healthcare Design Expo & Conference.
• To inspire the healthcare industry to create the best possible healthcare environments.

Past honorees read like a "Who's Who" in our community.  

To read more about the award and to submit a nomination before February 28, click here. 

In honor of our 25th Anniversary, each month we will be bringing a special treat to our constituents. I'm happy to announce the February offering. Starting February 1st, we are now offering all of our industry expert recorded interviews free for all to watch. There are over 50 short videos that feature nine top leaders providing their insight to the many challenges facing our industry. For example, we talked with John Kouletsis, a prominent healthcare planning and design expert, who was, prior to his retirement, the Vice President, Planning and Design, National Facilities Services at Kaiser Permanente, about Designing the Future of Healthcare Delivery.  To watch more of these recorded interviews, go to the Insights and Solutions section of our website and select interviews in the "Open Access" tab.

As we continue to celebrate our 25th anniversary throughout the year - watch for announcements of upcoming opportunities to be a part of The Center's future, along with the many planned celebration activities.   

Be well,

Debra Levin, EDAC
President and CEO

Industry News Briefs

Louisiana Wellness Center Designed for Healthier Community

Thibodaux Regional Medical Center’s new wellness center in Thibodaux, La., was built with the goal of making its community healthier. The rural area of about 15,000 people ranks as the most obese in the nation, according to America’s Health Rankings 2016 annual report. Greg Stock, CEO of Thibodaux Regional, says there were things the organization was already doing to improve and transform clinical care, “but wellness was missing from it,” he says. As he saw the growing effects of people not taking care of themselves, Stock presented to the hospital board the idea of a wellness center. “If we could integrate wellness and bring the doctors into it and other aspects of the care provided, we could make a difference,” he says. Healthcare Design,  more. . . 

ECRI Institute has listed 10 health care technologies and patient care developments it recommends that the C-suite pay attention to this year. The 2018 Top 10 Hospital C-suite Watch List touches on hot topics within the health care field, such as apps used to treat opioid addiction and direct-to-consumer genetic testing. It also addresses matters related to the physical environment.

Acuity-adaptable rooms made it to No. 3 on the list. As hospitals find ways to reduce or eliminate patient handoff risks, the concept of keeping patients right where they are has become an attractive alternative. ECRI’s trend report discusses not only the workflow adjustments that would have to be made to adopt this model, but also the infrastructure and equipment necessary to accommodate it. Health Facilities Management, more . . .

How Human Experience Informs Design

Too often, architects design buildings without looking the building users in the eyes, and without understanding who the users really are. What type of family do they come from? What is their ethnicity or cultural background? What are their likes, dislikes, fears and values? We often design for the average or the generic, such as “the children” or “the patients” or “the clinicians”. If that’s not enough, we try to be more specific: “behavioral health patients” or “patients with autism.” Even then, we often fall short. Instead of designing a treatment space for a young patient with autism, let’s design a treatment room for Alex. Instead of designing a waiting area for a patient suffering from depression, let’s design a waiting area for Derrick. Let’s design for real people.

Before HDR architects recently put pencil to paper to design a new behavioral health clinic for a children’s hospital, the team intimately got to know five patients: Chase, Alex, Gabriella, Lillian and Derrick. Medical Construction & Design, more . . .

Research Team Receives Journal of Interior Design Excellence in Scholarship Award

The Journal of Interior Design has announced that Dr. Xiaobo Quan, Dr. Anjali Joseph and Dr. Upali Nanda, all formerly part of The Center’s research team, have been selected to receive the Journal of Interior Design Excellence in Scholarship Award at the Interior Design Educator's Council annual conference for their recent article, Developing Evidence-based Tools for Designing and Evaluating Hospital Inpatient Rooms. The article served as the basis for the Safety Risk Assessment Tool found on The Center’s website that targets six areas of safety (infections, falls, medication errors, security, injuries of behavioral health, and patient handling) as required in the FGI Guidelines.

The Excellence in Scholarship Award recognizes an individual’s or team's distinguished achievement in the area of scholarship as it relates to the interior environment and its contribution to the discipline of interior design. Congratulations to Xiaobo, Anjali and Upali!