March 7, 2019

The Scoop

Ready to Welcome Spring  

It's amazing how fast time flies! This coming Sunday, March 10, we will "spring forward" kicking off daylight savings time for some. I have to say, I'm really ready for the days to get a bit warmer and longer. At The Center, we have put together several spring offers we hope you will take advantage of such as: 

• coming soon - the latest Research in a Snap - a PDF of the latest papers added to the Knowledge Repository in January and February - watch your email
• a chance to learn about platinum-level Evidence-Based Design Touchstone Award recipient, Legacy Emanuel Medical Center Garden research project, in a one-hour webinar on March 14
• early bird savings until March 15 for the Behavioral Health Strategic Design Workshop in Los Angeles on May 15 
• a spring EDAC promotion - EDAC is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with 10% off EDAC exam registration and the EDAC Study Guides through March 31
• the chance to nominate a Changemaker Award recipient before April 15

Included in this newsletter are some of our latest resources and tools, providing 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.

Below are a few resources you will find in the Insights and Solutions section of our website that are available free:

• Member Project: "Barnes Jewish Parkview Tower"
• EBD Journal Club:  "The Impact of Operating Room Layout on Circulating Nurse’s Work Patterns and Flow Disruptions: A Behavioral Mapping Study"
• Webinar: "Medicine Safety Considerations from a Systems Perspective"
• Executive Summary: "Safety Risk Assessment: The Center for Health Design Toolkit - Risk Components"

The resources and tools we provide are meant to be shared - make sure to pass them along to your team and 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.

Be well,

Debra Levin, Hon. FASID, EDAC
President and CEO

Industry News Briefs

The Intersection of Design and Healthcare

Patient readmission rates remain one of hospital’s top concerns. Anytime a patient returns to the hospital with a healthcare associated infection (HAI), it can cost the hospital up to billions of dollars in penalties.

According to data from the Center for Health Information and Analysis, hospital readmissions cost Medicare about $26 billion annually, with about $17 billion spent on preventable hospital trips after discharge. Many elements like communication and planning can positively contribute to this issue. Hospital design, on the other hand, can have a greater impact by reducing facility costs and readmission rates.
Healthcare Facilities Today, more. . .

The Hidden Advantage: Enriching the Patient Experience with Successful MEP Infrastructure

Today’s healthcare leaders are driven to provide patients with the utmost positive care experience. In today’s competitive marketplace, even the slightest step ahead can result in miles gained. A significant factor in a patient’s experience is an environment where mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are seamlessly integrated. When MEP systems work well, they will blend into the background. But, where there’s an issue, these systems quickly become an unwelcome nuisance.

Facilities encounter many obstacles when faced with renovating or expanding facilities to improve the level of care. A common challenge is optimizing MEP systems. This is especially true in older healthcare facilities where temperatures, filtration, air changes and pressure relationships might be inadequate, plumbing and medical gas systems could be aging or compromised, and electrical distribution capacities may be at or near capacity. Any of these deficiencies can impact a patient’s ability to rest and recover in an infection-free environment. 
Medical Construction & Design, more . . .

PMB plans to complete work this spring for a challenging, adaptive reuse project, converting a 50,000-square-foot 1980’s-era multiplex movie theater into a modern medical facility.

The repurposed building is being developed immediately west of the Abrazo West Campus, a 188-bed acute-care community hospital and Level 1 trauma center. Located in Goodyear, Arizona, the facility will expand the Abrazo West Campus wound care program, and provide outpatient services including imaging, multi-specialty care, internal medicine, pain management, wound care and physical therapy.

PMB is retaining the theater’s generous 12-foot-wide common hallways to create a patient-centric public corridor and is adding a reworked building entry. The firm is also utilizing the existing 22-foot theater ceiling heights to create open spaces with future flexibility.
Medical Construction & Design, more. . . 

Exterior of Children's Hospital Designed to Capture Imagination

The new eight-story Novak Center for Children’s Health in Louisville, Ky., brings together the affiliated general pediatric and specialty clinics of the Health Sciences Center of the University of Louisville in one location. GBBN Architects (Cincinnati) worked with client University of Louisville Physicians to provide an exceptional experience for children, visitors, and staff, starting the minute they arrive on campus. This was achieved by designing an exterior that was influenced by children’s imaginations and forms they might draw.

The 174,000-square-foot medical office building, which opened in October 2018, features curved lines and stacked forms and a color palette inspired by Kentucky’s regional flora and fauna, such as cardinal red to represent the state bird, blue for the sky, and green for Kentucky’s rolling fields. The terra-cotta tiles of each major color group are composed of light, medium, and dark glaze colors to add depth, while textured silver metal panels were added to represent the state tree, the tulip poplar.
Healthcare Design, more . . .