By Andrew Flanigan, Senior Planner/Designer with Devenney Group

One of the most important elements we’re trying to take into account in designing the new Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley hospital is the experience patients and their loved ones want from their hospital stays, and the positive experience employees want from their work environment. There are a number of outcomes the design team is working to accomplish, innovation being an underlying theme.

First of all, gone are the days of patients sharing a hospital room with a complete stranger. Our new building features all private patient rooms with adjoining zones of space designed for the patient, the caregiver and a family or guest zone.

We’re even bringing design innovation to patient room doors, making them wider than standard to allow for safe assisted ambulation. And no more squeezing in to tiny patient bathrooms; sliding doors will be used for easy access.

Ceiling mounted bed lifts are being built into a number of patient rooms. These lifts use remote controls to lift patients on to gurneys or into wheel chairs. Talk about avoiding back strain! Not to mention patient falls. Portable bed lifts will also be widely available.

The power of natural light in promoting a healing experience has been well documented, so our design team has incorporated the use of natural interior light wherever possible. Sound absorbing materials are also being incorporated into the building design to promote a natural, calm and therapeutic setting. And all bedsides will be equipped with flat screen TVs and a full array of cable stations.

We’re implementing cool new technologies to make life easier for everyone as well.

For patients…

While the lobby will have the typical staffed patient registration desk, we’ll also have walk-up kiosks for patients who are comfortable checking themselves in (think airport terminals). And visitors will be able to use the same HIPPA-compliant systems to locate their family and friends who’ve been admitted.

For visitors…

Most of us have sat long hours in waiting rooms sifting through magazines. At the new hospital we’ll have cool kiosks with WIFI access in patient rooms so you can be productive while your loved ones are getting the care they need.

Visitors (and staff) will have separate elevators and corridors to improve the visitor experience through a “front of the house” versus “back of the house” experience.

For employees…

A number of other innovations will give the hospital staff greater functional improvements. Sutter Health will be rolling out a system called Vocera, a wireless, hands-free voice communication device, which allows key patient information that can be pushed out to the care giver to increase patient safety and improve response time, and dramatically reduces overhead noise by essentially eliminating overhead paging.

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) will be installed, as well as an automated “command center” to coordinate staffing, patient admissions, placement and discharge, patient flow and room turnover. The command center will also track patients and resources, manage process flow bottlenecks and maximize organizational efficiency.

New concept

The Universal Care Unit (UCU) is a one of the exciting innovations—an all-in-one patient care room. Whether the patient has to go to a post anesthesia care unit, surgical pre-op care, recovery, injections or short-term observation, the UCU can serve all of these patient functions. It can be used during an ER (emergency room) overflow when all inpatient beds are full. And in a large-scale disaster scenario, the UCU may also help to meet surge capacity needs. This will be a high activity area where patients who are in this unit will have actions being taken to improve and expedite their care process with the intent of improving outcomes and reducing the length of stay.

If you have any questions for the project team or want to comment about these exciting new hospital innovations, please click on the title of this post, and you’ll see a comment box (or it should appear below, if you’re just reading this one post). We really appreciate your feedback and suggestions…and, on behalf of our entire team, we wish you and your loved ones a healthy, safe and Happy Thanksgiving!