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Family Centered Care
The following design is another great example of a refreshing solution to healthcare’s specific design challenges… Family-Centered Care.
Seattle Children’s “Building Hope” project, completed in April 2013, includes a 330,000-square-foot expansion with a focus on family-centered care. Among desired outcomes for the project was a design that would eliminate waiting and maximize visibility.
To that end, the space plan places a registered nurse near the department’s entrance to quickly assess a child’s condition and, in most cases, move families along to one of 38 exam rooms. There, registration will take place after a primary care team sees the patient. Relying on Lean design, as well as feedback from families and staff, traditional ED design was replaced with a new twist—literally. The floor plan uses an S-shaped configuration, with large glass doors on patient rooms for added visibility, caregivers stationed in central work areas, and alcoves outside each room where families and caregivers can talk.
One juror notes the “sinuous curve and open plan at the ED are a refreshing change from the typical ED,” while others recognized its use of Lean principles, uncluttered waiting area, and design with patient and staff processes in mind.
Read more: Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, Wash. done by: ZGF Architects LLC
