Insights & Solutions

The project's mission was to solve the extensive inpatient needs of the campus, with the goal of increasing the number of single-rooms from 30% to 90% and updating the oldest rooms on the campus. The planning & conceptual design process involved heavy user group input including collaboration with the Facility Master Planning Steering Committee, Sustainability Council, Internal Departments, Design User Groups for nursing, support, and ancillary services, and Patients and Families Design User Group.

ESa provided master planning and design services to transform the Monument Health Rapid City Hospital campus into a campus equipped to accommodate more patients and to offer more advanced services in an updated environment with efficient patient through-put. Phased improvements include a 260,000 square feet of additions and renovations and a new integrated 80,000-square-foot, four-story hospital office building.

Improvements include a newly relocated, expanded Emergency Department, new bed tower with the addition of 32 critical care beds and shell space, and a Central Utility Plant expansion. The additions have also been designed for future interior buildout, vertical and horizontal expansion.

With debate about SARS-CoV-2 transmission, Italian researchers studied whether the virus’ RNA was on surfaces where COVID-19 patients were receiving care. Two of 26 samples tested positive, suggesting “real life” surface contamination is a lower risk factor than previously reported.

Don’t miss this, high-return day to problem-solve with experts, idea-share with colleagues and obtain new strategies and resources to address behavioral health challenges not only in specialized units, but in emergency departments, outpatient clinics and throughout acute care settings. 

Martins, B. A., Barrie, H., Visvanathan, R., Daniel, L., Martins, L. A., Ranasinghe, D., Wilson, A., & Soebarto, V. (2020). A multidisciplinary exploratory approach for investigating the experience of older adults attending hospital services. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, in press.

Giving older adults and others with functional limitations a place to temporarily land while ambulating is the least we an do to promote their functional health in hospitals.

Join us for this virtual interactive, collaborative, problem-solving workshop intended to enable project stakeholders (designers, facility executives, administrators, care providers) to employ physical design strategies and methodologies that support improved care for children. Representatives from internationally acclaimed children’s hospitals will share insights into the latest developments and future direction for pediatric care. The esteemed faculty will present pediatric evidence-based design studies and best practices that integrate architecture, design and technology with innovative medical practice to create high-quality, high-tech care in a safe and enriching environment. Attendees will also share questions and ideas with the owners and faculty through interactive panel discussion.

The challenges created by today’s growing mental health and substance abuse crises, especially in light of the recent pandemic, reach far beyond the behavioral health unit into emergency departments, outpatient clinics and throughout acute and ambulatory care settings.

To support improved care and enhance staff safety, today’s design, facility and care professionals have to advance their understanding of the environment’s impact on behavioral health care and learn how to incorporate the best and latest design solutions throughout all healthcare setting.

Peditto, K., Shepley, M., Sachs, N., Mendle, J., & Burrow, A. (2020). Inadequacy and impact of facility design for adolescents and young adults with cancer. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 69, in press.

Designing in features that improve a sense of social support for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer has the potential to improve health related quality of life for these young people..

Learn about the origins and expanding use of telemedicine for virtual care; the role of the built environment in facilitating care via telemedicine; and how evidence was used to support and develop language for guidance (requirements and recommendations).