Moncrief Cancer Institute - UT Southwestern, Fort Worth, Texas

Firm's role on the project: Offer patients a care environment that gives them control over their environment and reduces stress levels.
 

Patients receiving cancer treatment often feel they are in a situation beyond their control. Offering them a care environment that gives patients control over their environment reduces stress levels. By providing patient choice of infusion room layouts, the goals of the project are to increase satisfaction and enhance hope and to encourage social interaction.
 

UT Southwestern Medical Center and Moncrief Cancer Institute are dedicated to research; therefore Evidence Based Design is a natural fit for the project. Both entities desired a care environment that would set itself apart in its landscape, much like they hope their concept will set itself apart as a nationally known Cancer Care Center. Prior to beginning design work, a literature review was conducted bringing to light numerous relevant sources of data for the investigation. Upon synthesizing this data, the team developed the following hypothesis for the design of the Moncrief Cancer Institute infusion center.
 

The innovative design of the infusion center, including patient selection among three private infusion room layouts and various types of comfortable community spaces for patients and care partners, will result in reduced side effects and increased patient satisfaction within 72 hours of treatment. 

Solution

The 30,000 SF second phase of the replacement facility will bring comprehensive services, including chemotherapy, diagnostic imaging, and cutting-edge cancer therapies as well as National Cancer Institute clinical research trials to Moncrief Cancer Institute’s current programs. At the outset of the project, the Corgan design team conducted an intensive visioning session with key stakeholders. The vision of a facility that is socially-balanced, cleanly natural, and brightly modern provided direction for the project.
 

Several options for infusion areas were studied – private, semi-open, and open. The angled room design provides choice of treatment location depending upon the patient condition on the treatment day:

• Option 1 – Orienting the patient toward the more open view of the community space, encouraging patients feeling more social to choose this room.
• Option 2 - Provides the patient a larger viewing area of the healing garden below, encouraging patients not feeling well to choose this room.
• Option 3 – Infusion rooms not placed directly on the windows– encouraging patients that are sensitive to sunlight to choose this room.

Community spaces offer various innovative seating arrangements that are meant to encourage patients and visitors to socialize. Several infusion chairs on each end to allow “infusion buddies” to socialize while receiving their treatment. It is anticipated that the design team will collect baseline performance measures, as well as measure post occupancy results in future phases of the project.