Category: Healthcare

Nonprofit healthcare organization Enloe Medical Center (Chico, Calif.) is planning a comprehensive cancer center.

Situated on 13 acres, the 107,000-square-foot outpatient project will consolidate Enloe’s existing ambulatory cancer services across Chico into one location.

Scheduled to open by the end of 2025, the center will provide expanded services and programs, including diagnostics, screening and diagnostic imaging spaces, radiation oncology services supported by advanced linear accelerators and a brachytherapy vault, and infusion treatment spaces.

The project team includes HGA (design; Sacramento, Calif.), Buehler Engineering Inc. (structural engineer; Sacramento), Swinerton (builder; San Francisco), ECOM Engineering (electrical and low-voltage engineer; Sacramento), Weston & Associates (MEP; Sacramento), Criterion (medical equipment planner; Auburn, Calif.), and NorthStar (civil engineer; Chico, Calif.).

Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters’ (CHKD) Children’s Pavilion in Norfolk, Va., is a new, 14-story psychiatric hospital and outpatient tower created to fill a pressing need for pediatric mental health care services.

Opened in July 2022, the $224 million tower integrates comprehensive inpatient, outpatient, and partial hospitalization mental health services with primary and specialty physician practices, lab and imaging services, and an innovative conference and training center. The core principle that shaped the program and manifests physically in the design is that access to mental health services should be convenient and visible to all in need.

Designing for safety was a core tenet: for the patients, for staff, and for family members. An early commitment was made to integrate families into the care model. All patient sleep rooms are designed for single patients, but an additional sleep surface is incorporated to allow for one parent, after clearance, to stay

The U.S. healthcare system has been profoundly affected by the pandemic, accelerating the pace of moving people out of the hospital and into outpatient settings. Moving the treatment of less critical or severe conditions off the hospital campus can help reduce exposure and transmission and enables the hospital to focus on long-term and highly specific care. Within hospital environments, healthcare clients are rethinking how to plan spaces for flexibility while ensuring patient and staff safety.

These efforts are driving new approaches to healthcare facilities, including the design of patient rooms and location of core services.

Rethinking patient room design

Within hospitals today, the patient care unit has seen some of the most significant pressure to become more resilient and flexible post pandemic. Specifically, there’s demand to be able to ramp up and down the number of active beds while still supporting patient and staff safety. This has accelerated the need

The past 12 months have allowed the nation and our healthcare organizations to work toward achieving a new normal in terms of patient care delivery and the management of our information services teams.

Two of the most significant trends of 2022 were the transition of COVID-19 toward endemic status and the impact of the “great resignation” – particularly within our clinical communities.

Many healthcare systems faced the departure of front line clinicians, who bore the brunt of the pandemic, and left the healthcare space in droves. A significant void in personnel remained with the significant task to maintain clinical operations.

While leaders in the industry addressed this situation by using the services of temporary staffing agencies to supplement and provide the necessary clinical talent, it created financial strain on medical establishments at a substantial cost that was much more than budgeted.

This scenario, along with other supply chain and inflationary

Technology has played an increasing role in the delivery of healthcare over the last 20 years, driven by the expansion of the internet, Wi-Fi, and network-based systems.

From building automation and control, nurse call, television, motorized shade specifications, and IT-based interactive patient and locating systems to medical equipment such as IV pumps, smart patient beds, and other auxiliary equipment, the quantity of systems to be integrated in today’s healthcare environments is staggering.

However, hospital technology implementations often don’t meet functional requirements and clinical needs. This is because the functionality for new technologies are not being sufficiently defined nor implemented correctly. Issues include improper device locations, misunderstood technology utilization, scope issues, technology changes, and necessary adaptable spaces.

Design teams can help healthcare providers improve outcomes by assisting clinicians, IT and facilities staff, and administrators in understanding the realistic capabilities of healthcare technology.

Breaking down challenges

Oftentimes challenges arise during the procurement