April 5, 2018

The Scoop

Expanding Impact and Support  

It's that time of year again - where days start to get longer and busier with more and more things getting added to the "to-do" list. We at The Center know first-hand how busy life can be. We have made it our mission to create tools and resources that are of value to you and accessible anytime, allowing you to be more productive with your time, and maybe free up some extra hours of “hammock time” for deep contemplation this spring and summer. To that end, we hope you will take advantage of our latest educational offerings including: a webinar on April 12 titled, "Designing for Adolescents in Mental Health Crisis: A Story of Research, Innovation, and Hope" that discusses how design can support a seclusion- and restraint-free care model and how pushing beyond the conventions of behavioral healthcare design was achieved at a 27-bed adolescent behavioral health unit in Tacoma, Washington.

On April 13, there is a free Evidence-Based Design Touchstone Awards Information Session. The Evidence-Based Design Touchstone Awards recognize exemplary use of an EBD design process in healthcare facility projects. Do you have questions about the awards or submission criteria? If so, then join us for this free information session. This round of award recipients will be recognized at this year's Healthcare Design Expo & Conference. 

April 19th, be sure to attend the EBD Journal Club: A Value Analysis of Lean Processes in Target Value Design and Integrated Project Delivery: Stakeholder Perception, where presenters  Upali Nanda, PhD, Assoc. AIA, EDAC, Zofia K. Rybkowski, PhD, and Bernita Beikmann, AIA, EDAC, LSSBB will discuss their recently published study.

I hope to see many of you in Savannah, Georgia at the Environments for Aging Expo & Conference, April 21 - 24. It's three days filled with seeing old friends, enjoying keynote presentations, workshops, walking tours and making discoveries in an expo hall filled with the latest innovative products. It's an opportunity to become inspired with the latest strategies, products and ideas in design for aging lifestyles. Come by our booth near the educational sessions and say hello.

April 26, join us for a webinar titled "Microhospitals: Key Considerations for Planning and Design", that will explore how the increasingly popular microhospital design requires a clear strategy, a sound operational model, and a clinical support plan in order to be successful. These microhospitals have the potential for a significant impact on a health system’s future in response to the changing economics and clinical delivery of healthcare. 

And, finally, April 30 is the last day to get early bird savings for the Design for Patient and Staff Safety: A Systems Approach Workshop in Chicago on June 25 - 26.  This is a day-and-a-half interactive, collaborative, problem-solving workshop where a faculty of design, facility and care professionals will offer lessons learned and new thinking in both design and organizational strategies that support improved patient and staff safety.  

As we continue to celebrate our 25th anniversary, our pledge to you is to continue to offer you the needed tools, resources and insights to ensure all healthcare environments are healthy, safe and produce the best possible outcomes for patients, families, and staff. You can be a part of our celebration by donating to The Center for Health Design. Donations help us achieve the research, education, and advocacy goals that unleash design's healing power in the U.S. and abroad and help us to reach our financial goal of ensuring a strong future for decades yet to come. Click here to make a contribution to The Center and make a difference in the future of healthcare.  

Be well,

Debra Levin, EDAC
President and CEO

Industry News Briefs

Resiliency a Growing Concern in Healthcare Design

Resilient design and security strategies are two of the hottest topics on the minds of those responsible for planning the design of healthcare facilities, according to the annual Hospital Construction Survey conducted by Health Facilities Management, the magazine for the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE).

Of the 274 facilities professionals from hospitals across the country who completed the survey, 89% of respondents said that when designing and building new spaces they now consider resiliency. The magazine described resiliency as "a design style that resists a variety of natural or human-induced disasters and aids in quick recovery. HCPro,  more. . . 

Diagnostic errors earned the No. 1 spot on ECRI Institute's 2018 list of Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations in 2018.

ECRI Institute compiled the list based on an assessment of more than 2 million patient safety events collected in the ECRI Institute PSO database since 2009, along with expert opinions from a panel of internal and external patient safety leaders.

"The list does not necessarily represent the issues that occur most frequently or are most severe," ECRI wrote in the report. "Most organizations already know what their high-frequency, high-severity challenges are. Rather, this list identifies concerns that might be high priorities for other reasons, such as new risks, existing concerns that are changing because of new technology or care delivery models, and persistent issues that need focused attention or pose new opportunities for intervention."
Beckers Healthcare, more . . .

Survey Says Consumer Focus Driving Hospital Design

Enter a destination, and follow the colored path to the blue pin. 
The seemingly routine process of navigating with a mobile GPS app can also be used inside Hackensack (N.J.) University Medical Center.

The medical center's parent, Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health, recently began offering a wayfinding app, similar to Google Map's pin technology, to seamlessly get patients from A to B. 

Aided by strategically placed digital touchscreens that integrate with the app and color-coded signage, patients navigate the many corridors of the sprawling Hackensack University Medical Center in Bergen County. The health system plans to expand the application to its entire 16-hospital network. Modern Healthcare, more . . .

Sixth Annual Internationally Acclaimed CODAawards Celebrate Commissioned Art Projects

The internationally acclaimed CODAawards, now in their sixth year, celebrate the design projects that most successfully integrate commissioned art into interior, architectural, or public spaces. The awards, selected from projects around the world, honor the individuals and the teams whose collective imaginations create the public and private spaces that inspire us every day. Submit projects for consideration by May 31, 2018. CODAworx, more. . .

Lawmakers Seek OSHA Standard on Workplace Violence Prevention in Healthcare*

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and 12 other House Democrats have introduced legislation intended to curb workplace violence in health care facilities.

The Health Care Workplace Violence Prevention Act, introduced March 8, would direct OSHA to create a standard that would require health care facilities to develop and implement facility- and unit-specific workplace violence prevention plans.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, at least 58 hospital workers died as a result of workplace violence between 2011 and 2016. 
Safey + Health, more . . . 

*The Center's upcoming Patient and Staff Safety Workshop will highlight a systems approach that considers design in the context of the organization, operations, and people. Join us for a day-and-a-half interactive, collaborative, problem-solving workshop where design, facility and care professionals will offer lessons learned and new thinking in both design and organizational strategies that support improved patient and staff safety. More information here.