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Pati, D., Pati, S., & Harvey Jr, T. E. (2016). Security implications of physical design attributes in the emergency department. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 9(4), 50-63.
Learn about: Ellis Medicine’s struggle to service a higher ED volume after two local hospitals closed their doors;
why the new ED was initially unable to meet the high patient demand; and how a transitional unit, a split-flow model, and other strategic design choices ultimately helped improve ED throughput.
This tool provides healthcare designers and professionals with ED throughput principles/goals and how environmental, operational, and people measures can be implemented to achieve said goal. Download the tool by clicking the purple bar above.
The following are compiled from research literature, case studies, interviews, and other materials to provide an overview on the topic of emergency department throughput.
The best hospital design plans are only as good as the processes and systems they support. What this means when it comes to patient throughput is that a well-thought-out built environment needs to have well-functioning services and policies in place to ensure that things run in a truly optimal way. One way to do this is to include the “right” people in your efforts from the very beginning onward.
What message does your Emergency Department (ED) send to patients who step through the doors? If it isn’t a comprehensively welcoming one, you could be increasing patient and family stress levels before they’ve even begun assessment or treatment. As overcrowding in EDs and awareness of the consequences grows within the healthcare industry, it’s crucial to begin taking steps to improve your care environment for staff and patients.
Learn about: methods to minimize patient wait times and maximize use of hospital space, guiding principles implemented in a Seattle children’s hospital to improve patient and provider communication, and how architects, healthcare providers, and families can collaborate to design a patient-centered emergency department.
This list of resources is made of up of articles, books, policies, organizations, and more, related to the emergency department. Use this list to learn more about this topic.
Learn about: evidence-based design solutions to address throughput challenges in today’s overcrowded
emergency departments, the importance of aligning research design with organizational operations and processes for successful research, and the advantages of basing research methods on previous studies.
Learn about: unique ways that a pediatric replacement hospital leverages its small urban footprint to meet
the high demand for ED services, why locating the emergency department on the second floor was the most efficient way to use limited space, and how a three-pod design enables the ED to flex at different times of day for varying levels of demand.
