Bryan Daylor
By Bryan Daylor, Vice President, Ancillary & Support Services, Eden Medical Center
In my previous posts, I described how our “user” team approach to planning the new hospital Those of us who head up different functional areas at Eden worked in teams (consisting of managers, supervisors, staff and physicians) to determine the best way to improve the delivery of patient care in the new hospital by implementing industry best practices.
Our focus all along has been on patient safety and quality of care, efficient patient flow and effective use of skilled resources. This work has been an important opportunity to design a building that supports the process of care and enhances the experience for patients and caregivers. We were challenged with the puzzle of creating work space and flow in a new building, but in the end we feel we have achieved an excellent design for the new hospital.
While the construction teams are busy working on the visible sign of progress, we are planning for what goes inside the new building. Our teams are working with the project engineers and architects and some of the key users on what fills the space that we have so carefully designed: the structures and equipment that will be in each room of the new hospital. This space planning includes reviewing the elevations of casework, cabinets, counter tops and work surfaces to ensure that the work areas and surfaces align with work flow and support functions.
Although we have not selected the final medical equipment, we must plan for the equipment that goes into every room. We are taking inventory of the equipment needed and documenting the space allocation and utility needs (electrical, plumbing, data, cooling and ventilation) required for every piece of equipment in every room. There are more than 8,500 pieces of equipment inventoried for the new hospital that must be accounted for in the room-by-room layouts. Over the past four weeks, the team has worked together to review each floor to ensure the drawings are accurate and inclusive of the specific details required to support the equipment and functionality of the space.
The group is also researching and evaluating technological advancements in every discipline to anticipate changes and ensure that, when the new hospital opens, we will have the most up-to-date equipment for our staff and our patients.
I welcome you comments and questions.
By George Bischalaney, President & CEO
Among my mail is an envelope addressed to the CEO and marked “confidential.” It is handwritten, obviously not from a business partner or one who hopes to be. Someone has taken the time to write and make sure it gets read by me and not screened or redirected. It has my attention.
As I expected, it is a letter from an individual who wants to tell me about the care delivered to a family member. As I begin to read, there is a moment of apprehension. Will this be the grateful letter that praises the care of doctors, nurses and other staff members encountered during the stay? Or is this the letter that expresses concerns and expectations not met? Actually, I look forward to either. An individual in a position to assess our performance has taken the time to tell me about it.
I receive letters several times a week, and they are often the most instructive of a given day’s activity. Patients and their families have much to teach us about what we do and how we do it.
I am still surprised at how often it is the little things that make a difference. We put so much effort into providing the highest quality of care and avoiding mistakes that we often overlook the obvious. Those entrusted to our care need the human touch. A moment of compassion, a word of support, encouragement or just someone to listen can provide a sense of healing equal to many more clinical interactions in a patient’s mind. Letters rarely praise the well-placed IV or express gratitude for the timely administration of medication. What many patients remember are the kind words of the nurse, the cheerfulness of the dietary worker delivering the meal, or the respectful nature of the person who comes to clean the room.
There is much that we can do to improve the health care system in our country. Even as the debate continues, there is much that is working well – and it hasn’t been legislated. It is the commitment of countless individuals to go about their work with an understanding of the impact they can and do have on the people they care for. It is remembering the little things that help a patient through the day or a family member find relief in knowing that the caregivers are more than clinicians completing rounds and performing tasks. We create moments every day that will be remembered forever.
As I open the next letter, regardless of the message, I know it will help me remain connected to our purpose and be a reminder of what health care really needs.
George Bischalaney, President and CEO, Eden Medical Center
By George Bischalaney, President & CEO, Eden Medical Center
Health care reform is on the agenda, again. The stakes are high, but our President is determined to make some significant changes. As the discussion moves from general to specifics, special interests are staking out their positions. None of the stakeholders—hospitals included—wants to feel the impact or be at a disadvantage.
Amidst the demand for cost reduction and health care coverage for all, there is and must be continued investment in care. Physicians demand it. They expect to be able to practice with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities to produce outcomes that meet national, state and local quality standards. Patients demand it. They want to know that their local hospital has the right number of well-trained staff as well as the latest diagnostic and treatment equipment, and contemporary facilities.
With this backdrop of conflicting needs, Eden Medical Center is about to begin a three-year project that will result in the replacement of the Castro Valley hospital. The project cost is estimated to be $320 million. The current 55-year-old building is anything but contemporary. With few private rooms, small operating rooms and inadequate support space for clinical services, a new hospital is very much needed.
Eden Medical Center has served the community well, but it was not designed for patient comfort and needs, more for staff needs and functionality. While our project may seem ill timed given the uncertainty of hospital reimbursement, we are required to meet California legislated standards for seismic safety in hospitals. And it truly is needed.
We’ll celebrate our long sought goal with a ground-breaking ceremony on July 1st. Then we’ll spend the next three years continuing the investment in the new buildings and equipment, while observing and hoping that decision makers do not enact legislation that essentially penalizes us for the commitment we are making. When we celebrate the grand opening and our new beginning early in 2013, it should be with the same hope and dreams as those who celebrated the first ceremony in 1954.
By Jack Alotto, President & CEO of Eden Medical Center Foundation
My name is Jack Alotto. I am the President & CEO of Eden Medical Center Foundation. I’ve been raising money for non-profit organizations for more than 20 years in health care as well as the arts and social services. At Seton Medical Center Foundation in Daly City, we raised more than $1 million and increased Seton’s employee giving campaign by 600% in my first year.
I also started the first planned giving program for the City Library of Santa Clara, California. We even created a used bookstore and café called Friends of the Library—we made great cappuccinos!
For the past two years now, I’ve been steering the ship at Eden Foundation, and we are fortunate to have a very active board with 17 members, including Lawrence Dickinson, M.D., one of the top neurosurgeons in the East Bay and our board chairman.
All the money we raise helps ensure that patients and the community we care for have the most technologically advanced, highest quality care available. We pay for medical equipment, clinical training and continuing education for our staff, plus health education seminars for our community, and health care for our uninsured residents.
I’m proud to say that in the last two years we’ve raised more than $4,000,000, while keeping our costs surprisingly low. We owe our highest admiration and heartfelt gratitude to you, our patients and members of the community for your generous donations and participation in our special events. And a special thank you to our physicians and employees who give the Foundation tremendous support.
Take a look at the prolific list of equipment and community service programs your donations paid for last year. Donor Gifts Have Gone a Long Way in 2008…
With contributions from individuals, physicians and staff, corporations and foundations, Eden Medical Center Foundation has made the following gifts to Eden Medical Center:
Tools to Enhance Patient Care
• A new CT Scanner for San Leandro Hospital provides improved diagnostic services to inpatients and outpatients
• Laerdal Airway Management Training equipment for trauma nurses to sharpen their airway management skills through realistic practice
• Two blood pressure/pulse ox/temperature monitors keep triage equipment up-to-date
• Four new trauma monitors providing state-of-the-art monitoring of trauma patients to enable health care providers to have immediate and ongoing assessment of trauma patients
• An exercise bicycle at Laurel Grove Hospital helps rehabilitation patients recover more quickly
• A golf cart for Food and Nutritional Services provides prompt service to patients and reduce the risk of injury to employees
• New IV poles and wheelchairs help nurses and department staff to provide better patient care
• A new LCD/DVD supports ongoing training for Emergency Room and trauma staff
• Bladder scanners allow the neurology/medical/surgical unit and 5th floor surgery department to perform noninvasive monitoring for postoperative patients
• A JUZO Perometer in Rehabilitation Services enhances the level of patient care provided to lymphedema patients
• X-ray imaging is performed during vascular and orthopedic surgical procedures through the use of a radiolucent surgical table
• A pediatric bronchoscope is life-saving equipment trauma surgeons use to address breathing problems of children in the trauma center, thus saving a trip to the operating room.
• Radiology techs underwent training on the best use of the Toshiba Fluoroscopy and Multi-Purpose room to facilitate better patient care.
Community Services
• Free senior flu clinics were held at San Leandro Hospital and Eden Medical Center
• A Women’s Health Symposium at Eden Medical Center provided an evening of free education on the health risks women face
• Eden Medical Center hosts five cancer support groups for patients and families facing cancer, caregivers and for people mourning a loss.
• Continuing education for nurses keeps Eden’s nurses up-to-date on the latest in health care
• Students at Skyline High School, San Leandro High School and Castro Valley High School go through the anti-alcohol and drug program, Every 15 Minutes
• Social Work Services provides shelter for transients recovering from a wound
• Support for Spiritual Care volunteers working in Social Work Services department
• GE Medical Systems Bone Densitometry Screening equipment allows Eden provide free screening at health fairs and community events
• Community members and Eden employees can take part in smoking cessation programs
• Emergency First Aid Guidelines assist local school staff members in responding to emergencies until medical staff can arrive.
Besides funding projects for our two hospitals in Castro Valley and San Leandro, we have taken on raising money for Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley, the hospital that will replace Eden Medical Center.
My vision is that once the doors open, our Foundation will pay for anything the new medical center needs! We have already started our fundraising efforts; last year’s Golf Tournament, which netted more than $60,000, was the first fundraiser on behalf of the new buildings.
So here is our wish list for Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley:
Equipment Enhancements
The Need: $25 million
Your generous contribution could provide technological and equipment updates so doctors and nurses can provide patients at the new Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley with the best in medical care. Advancements in technology for medical tools and equipment mean patients can experience less pain and discomfort, and doctors can perform less invasive procedures. This can translate into shorter recovery times and decreased hospital stays so patients can go home sooner. We constantly strive to improve a patient’s health care experience and state-of-the-art equipment and technology helps us to meet this goal.
Intensive Care, Critical Care and Trauma Center Upgrades
The Need: $15 million
Consider making a gift to help patients in intensive care, critical care and trauma comfortably and safely recover from surgery and other medical procedures. New beds, patient monitors, bedside equipment, and state-of –the-art nurse call systems will improve a patient’s stay and help doctors and nurses better attend to the needs of each patient.
Medical and Surgical Floor Enhancements
The Need: $6 million
Philanthropic support will help us purchase beds and other patient room equipment for Labor and Delivery, the Neuroscience Center and Medical and Surgical Units.
Outpatient Surgery Enhancements
The Need: $3 million
Higher image quality and patient comfort are combined in the newest tools used by physicians and nurses. Your generous gift will enable the Outpatient Surgery Department to replace older, outdated equipment with the latest technology at the new hospital.
We have many giving programs and named gift opportunities available to our donors. If you would like more information about our work at the Foundation and how you can support the new hospital, please call me at the Foundation office at 510-889-5033, or email me.
We invite you to visit the new You Can Help page on this blog and donate safely and securely online.
By Cassandra Clark, Project Communications Director
Finding access to primary care services is a serious challenge for local residents who are uninsured and underinsured. Many cannot afford routine doctor visits, long-term disease management or other basic services. Often, we see patients in our emergency rooms with advanced illness because they have no access to a regular doctor. Thankfully, in our community, more people have access to low-cost and no-cost medical care because of community-based organizations that help fill the need.
The Davis Street Family Resource Center’s RotaCare Free Acute
Clinic in San Leandro and Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center in Hayward and Union City have been filling that gap by providing primary care, pediatric and dental services to local residents for many years.
So it was welcome and uplifting news when Sutter Health recently awarded $100,000 grants to each of these organizations. Sutter’s Community Clinic Access to Care Grant program is a commitment by the Sutter Health network to improve access to health care services in the communities that it serves.
When Eden Medical Center learned of the available funds through the Community Clinic Access to Care Grant program, the people of Eden immediately thought of these two clinics. Eden has worked with these two organizations for many years, and both are highly regarded clinics in the community.
The $100,000 grant to the RotaCare Clinic is now being used to upgrade equipment and expand the clinic’s hours of operation. More than 60 doctors and nurses—many of whom work at Eden Medical Center and San Leandro Hospital—volunteer one of the four evenings a week that the clinic is open. San Leandro Hospital also provides basic radiology and laboratory services to clinic patients.
Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center is using their $100,000 grant to expand primary care services to residents of unincorporated areas of Cherryland and Ashland. These areas, adjacent to the cities of Hayward and San Leandro, have virtually no medical resources and very few physician offices. The clinic can now expand to these communities and offer primary, pediatric and maternity care.
The RotaCare Clinic and Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center were among 26 medical and dental centers in Northern California that benefited from the more than $2.5 million that Sutter Health’s Community Clinic Access to Care Grant Program awarded. Often, these good works go unnoticed, and so I thought I would share the good news. As always, your questions and comments are welcome.
By Todd Peterson, Vice President of Information Technology, Eden Medical Center
My name is Todd Peterson and I’m Vice President of Information Technology at Eden Medical Center. Castro Valley has been my home for the past 26 years, and I’ve worked for Sutter Health for ten years, joining Eden 2 ½ years ago.
My team is responsible for making sure all computer systems are up and fully functioning 24/7; and while computer repair is a significant part of our business, we are responsible for implementing new technologies that are now vital to many aspects of our patients’ care.
One major project underway that will be a cornerstone of the new Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley hospital is Electronic Health Records (EHR), a project conceived when I was still at Sutter. Basically the new hospital is being designed with minimal use of paper. That’s right… no more clipboards and illegible handwriting.
The EHR will facilitate all clinical documentation and reporting; all medical disciplines will be recorded. What does this mean? Our physicians will get a full view of a patient’s care at any given time, from any location, once their patient has been admitted to the hospital. So the patient’s medical history as it relates to diagnostics, drug therapy, procedures, diet, rehabilitation and notes generated by physicians and nurses will all be available online. This also includes previous visits to any Sutter Health-owned facility or physician office.
The EHR will ultimately be integrated with biomedical technology. That means much of the clinical equipment in patient rooms—heart monitors, blood pressure cuffs, IV pumps, and even the beds themselves—will feed information directly into the patient records. With real time monitors of the patient’s vitals, a physician can be alerted if a trend in their medical condition warrants medical attention well before a critical threshold is met. So the EHR will be a documentation system and much more; it will provide clinicians with a wider view of what is happening with a patient at all times so they can quickly take action.
Patient records will also show a correlation of clinical events, a true cause and effect. For example, a physician may order medications in response to laboratory test results. Subsequent laboratory tests can then be correlated to the timing of the medication and will demonstrate the degree of effectiveness. This constant correlation gives the entire care team the information they need to deliver the best care at the right time.
The critical exchange between the doctor who is on call and the nurse on duty will also be enhanced by EHR. Without delay, a physician can access the patient’s record from home, while the nurse views the same information from a workstation in the patient’s room so rather than just rely on a verbal exchange they are both viewing the patient’s record.
One of the key benefits of EHR is patient safety. In the area of medication management, physicians will use computerized order entry to address legibility issues and alert the physician to any contra indications, such as allergies, food or other medications that the patient is on. The process of administering the drug involves the nurse scanning the barcodes on the patient’s wristband and medication bottles. The system will confirm the patient’s name, medication name, correct time, correct dose and proper route (oral, or otherwise).
We will provide full accessibility to patient data. All this information, all images, reports, etc. will be available at the patient’s bedside. Every patient room, alcoves between rooms and nurses’ station will be furnished with a computer workstation so patient records can be accessed throughout the hospital. Physicians will also have wireless devices such as PC tablets to provide the most flexibility and mobility throughout the hospital.
Down the road, our patients who see Sutter Health physicians will be able to see their own clinical results online; they’ll be able to email their doctors and arrange appointments, and more importantly, track their own history and take responsibility for their own health. We may even use EHR to work in concert with our county and state health departments to track health trends in the community.
The prospects for EHR are endless. Our patients and clinicians become real partners in the delivery of care over the long term.
Your input is very important to us. I invite you to ask me any questions about the EHR system by either commenting beneath this post (click on the title of the post, if you are on the blog’s front page, and you’ll see the comment box below), or by emailing me.
Dr. Sidney Wanetick
Sidney Wanetick, M.D.
My name is Sidney Wanetick. For 26 years, I was in practice as an OB-GYN in Castro Valley, and I delivered more than 3,000 babies at Eden Medical Center.
In 2008, I retired from practice to accept the position of Vice President of Medical Affairs at Eden Medical Center. Today, I serve as the administrative liaison between the medical staff and administration, helping to support our physicians as they provide high quality care to our patients now and as we look to the future of Eden.
In addition to other duties, I am actively involved in assisting our physicians in recruiting new physicians to the community.
I’m very excited about the new Sutter Health hospital that is replacing Eden. Several major benefits stand out. In particular, having all private rooms for patients will make a huge difference, bringing more services to their bedsides and giving them more quality time with their doctors.
From the physician’s standpoint, this is a much better way to take care of patients and have important conversations with family members in private, as well as offer patients the privacy and rest needed for recuperation. The nurses’ stations will have a view of every patient’s room for faster response to patient needs.
The whole atmosphere of the new hospital will feel less institutional and more supportive, soothing and restful.
Today, even though Eden has 176 beds, we are unable to utilize all of these beds. Most rooms are semi-private, with very few private rooms and even a few four-bed wards. Yet, we can’t put men and women together, and we can’t mix patients with infections in with the general patient population. So even though Eden is larger, the Sutter replacement hospital will end up with a much better capacity for utilization of services.
Moreover, we are seeing a steady decline in the number of patients admitted to the hospital for more extended periods of time. When I first started my practice we admitted twice as many patients for surgery as we do today. My patients stayed in the hospital for five days or more! Also, if patients were scheduled for surgery, they would be admitted the night before. Today patients often have surgery and are discharged the same day, or, if they are admitted, the average length of stay is much shorter.
In addition to the 130 acute care beds, we’ll have a 34-bed, multi-purpose Universal Care Unit (UCU), which also supports the shorter hospital stay. Let’s say an Emergency Room patient has been treated and needs to stay for observation, but not necessarily be admitted. He or she can rest comfortably in the UCU. Or, if a patient is recovering from same-day surgery, we could have him assigned to a UCU bed where he’ll get the attention he needs.
There will also be vast improvements in our information technology systems that just aren’t possible at Eden; our current system has reached capacity. With the new electronic medical records system, our clinical staff will have access to lab reports, x-rays, medication, etc., right at their fingertips. Recent studies have demonstrated improved outcomes and fewer errors in centers that have electronic records, and the new hospital will have innovative, secure electronic records and data systems.
I welcome your comments and questions. Please feel free to leave a comment by clicking on the title of this post (if you are on the front page of the blog), and a comment box will appear below.
George Bischalaney, President and CEO, Eden Medical Center
By George Bischalaney, President & CEO, Eden Medical Center
This past year was another busy year for our elected representatives, passing another bevy of bills that will impact hospitals and other health care providers. In every case, I have no doubt, each bill was written with some positive motive; to provide better access to health care services, to help control or reduce costs, to protect confidentiality or a patient’s right of choice, or in some cases mandating policies or practices that are costly to implement and monitor and may have a questionable cost benefit to patients.
But will more legislative remedies to the extremely complex and already cumbersome system of health services in California actually improve the patient care experience? One has to wonder.
In most service industries, the consumer helps direct change by withholding use of a service that doesn’t meet his/her needs. This is not as easily done when someone needs medical care. Yet the consumers, our patients, speak to us through direct communication and through their responses to the surveys we send. What we need to do is listen more attentively and respond more appropriately.
At Eden Medical Center we randomly send out surveys to patients who have been hospitalized, patients who use our mental health services, patients who have surgery and leave the same day, and patients who use the Emergency Department. We ask about every aspect of their experience, from the time they are registered through their discharge from the hospital. This includes physician and nursing interactions, quality of food and housekeeping, and the staff that drew blood or took an x-ray. Patients or family members are also invited to write comments, good or bad, and tell us anything else they think we should know about our services.
Hospitals are for the most part, stops of last resort for all. People come here already laden with apprehension, uncertainty and even a certain amount of fear. They have seemingly little or no control over what is about to happen to them or their loved ones. It is our job, our responsibility, to care for them as we would members of our own family.
If more legislation is needed to encourage us or force us to care for patients as we would our own family members, then we deserve what is given us. However, if we truly listen to our patients, our customers, and respond as a service industry that needs to be attentive to the needs of its customers, the industry would be vastly improved in terms of quality care and the patient’s experience. What more is really needed?
As always, we want to hear what you have to say. Please feel free to comment or ask questions in the comment box beneath each post, including this one. We will respond as quickly as possible.
Bryan Daylor
By Bryan Daylor, Vice President of Ancillary and Support Services at Eden Medical Center
Technology is critical to convenience & efficiency…
As I mentioned in my previous post, our collaborative team has been very focused on how we would use technology, innovation and design to improve work flow and increase efficiency. You may also want to read the previous post by Andrew Flanigan, Senior Planner/Designer with Devenney Group, the architecture firm for Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley.
For example, in our clinical lab today, we have clinical space that is not fully utilized. The lab was originally designed when equipment was much larger and therefore required more space. The current lab was designed as a “decentralized” service, meaning that different sections of the lab, i.e., blood bank, hematology, chemistry, microbiology, pathology were divided into separate areas. We have learned over the years that this concept is outdated, as well as inefficient to operate and impractical to rebuild.
The new “best practice” is to create a centralized service where the work flow is organized and instruments are closely aligned. In this type of design the work flow is much more efficient, and staff has fewer steps between tasks and can be much more expedient in processing specimens. Ultimately this increases turnaround times of critical test results for physicians and patients, and results in a better work environment for the staff. With the advances in technology, one person can do multiple tasks in one area using state-of-the-art instrumentation.
Another mechanism to provide efficiency and convenience for the patient is the new Control Center, located on the first floor close to high activity areas. The Control Center functions similar to an “air traffic control” room. It is staffed with a variety of people representing key functions within the hospital. The area is designed for maximum communication and collaboration among the teams.
There will be multiple computer screens that will provide large visual displays of the various activities and flow of resources—patients, staff and key equipment. Bottlenecks in processing and movement of patients through the care continuum will be readily apparent and the Control Center staff will be able to quickly resolve issues. This will allow us to be much more efficient as we’ll see problems before they occur. The computer monitors will show us bed status: full, vacant, ready for cleaning; patients scheduled and waiting for discharge; expected completion times for surgical procedures; ER patient flow status, etc.
What does this mean for patients? It means less waiting time, more convenience and more time for personal care. For example, the Control Center can monitor patient wait status to ensure no one waits too long for testing. The necessary alerts will be displayed to the staff so they can provide efficient service. If surgical cases are running late, staff will be able to more effectively plan so resources of the OR and other support areas will be efficiently utilized, including communication to other affected physicians, patients and families. We’ll know on a real-time basis if we’re not performing at optimum levels and what the barriers might be. This knowledge will allow us to take the necessary action—e.g., deploy additional resources such as staff or equipment, and return the hospital to optimum performance levels.
Patient-focused clinical flow…
We also looked at clinical flow, from the patient’s perspective. One of our major goals from the beginning has been patient-focused care, creating convenience and comfort for our patients. We have effectively eliminated unnecessary trips within the new hospital for both patients and staff, starting with pre-op registration and diagnostic testing before surgery.
In the new hospital once the patient is registered and accompanied to their suite, clinical staff will come to the room for laboratory and other portable diagnostic testing. The goal is to minimize the amount of travel and disruption for the patient. We are also putting more services at the bedside. Due to the new hospital design of all private inpatient rooms, which are larger than our current rooms, we will be able to deliver more therapies at the bedside. This is an improvement for both patients and staff.
Please email me if you have any questions about the internal layout of the new medical center, or feel free to leave a comment here. We welcome your input!
My name is Bryan Daylor, and I am Vice President of Ancillary and Support Services at Eden Medical Center. I’m also on the “user” team that has had significant input on the design of the new Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley. Those of us who head up different functional areas at Eden worked collaboratively with our respective teams (consisting of managers, supervisors, staff and physicians) to determine the best way to improve the delivery of patient care in the new hospital by implementing industry “Best Practices.”
Our focus is on patient safety and quality of care, efficient patient flow and effective use of skilled resources. This work was an important opportunity to design a building that supports the process of care and enhances the experience for patients and caregivers. We were challenged with the puzzle of creating work space and flow in a new building, but in the end we feel we have achieved an excellent design for the new hospital.
It’s noteworthy that the replacement hospital for Eden will serve as a prototype for “best practices” operating models to be deployed to other Sutter Health affiliates that are building new hospitals of similar size and scope.
In the beginning…
When our user teams initially convened, the project size and scope had already been defined. We were challenged to look at how we do things today, and then be creative in how we could design this building to improve they way we provide care in the future. Some of the key goals of these teams were to look at quality and safety of care, efficiency for providers and an enhanced experience for the patient. All of these concepts had to be balanced with ways to drive down the operational cost of the hospital—hence efficiency! We looked at things like distances traveled by providers, adjacency of departments and services that work together, etc.
Acting as stewards of already-scarce resources, we decided that the hospital building would be designed for predominately clinical and direct patient care services, while almost all administrative functions would be housed in the adjoining medical office building. Hospital space costs more than twice that of regular medical office space to build and operate. So, our goal was to maximize clinical areas within the hospital and minimize the administrative functions. With the convenience of the connecting medical office building, placing the administrative services there helped us meet our budget goals without compromising the project or the future operations of the organization.
We deployed twelve different teams representing the various functional areas of the hospital, each looking at their role along the patient continuum of care and planning the layout of the hospital to support the care process. The user group contributed a wealth of knowledge that was invaluable to the development of the design of functional spaces for patient care.
Staff from all functional areas, including nursing, interventional services (surgery), sterile processing, radiology and imaging, women’s health, emergency and trauma, cardio-diagnostic testing, therapeutics, pharmacy, laboratory, and support services such as plant operations, facilities, food service, housekeeping and shipping & receiving, worked on the design of their respective units and then determined which services fit together. Efficient processing, and patient flow and experience, were key factors considered in these collaborative design sessions. Physicians from the emergency department, surgery, medicine, obstetrics and radiology also participated in the design discussions to ensure the efficiency of their part of the care process.
We worked with architects from The Devenney Group on the rough design of these areas, examining the most effective alternatives for organizing these services with consideration of services that are complementary to one another. The teams worked through several iterations of plans, building on the previous ideas and concepts from team members. The architects revised these layouts several times in draft form before a final schematic design was reached. This collaborative approach brought together years of healthcare delivery experience, as well as years of hospital and operational design experience to result in an efficient and aesthetically pleasing design that met Sutter Health’s project and budget goals.
The management team and physicians are proud of the work they have done and are excited to be a part of building the health care services of the future. Please feel free to comment here, or email me if you have any questions about the internal layout of the new medical center.
FaceBook Group
YouTube
LinkedIn
FriendFeed
Twitter