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Facility Planning Part III Carole Kindt University of Phoenix August 23, 2008 Facility Planning Part III Visiting a hospital can be a stressful and scary event for the patient and their family. Working in a hospital also can be stressful and induce fatigue in the healthcare workers charged with taking the stress out of their patients visit. Studies have shown that just as evidence-based medicine provides good patient outcome, research into evidence-based design is showing that the physical environment of hospitals has an impact on patient and staff outcomes (Ulrich, Quan, Zimring, Joseph, & Choudhary, 2004).
The aim of the heart hospital’s renovation is in keeping with its value system and concern not just for good patient outcomes but also in quality health outcomes in their staff. The hospital has designed a gym and lounge area that will allow their staff to benefit from the stress relieving benefits of exercise and also to relax in the lounge on shift breaks and lunch. The author chose this facility because of its commitment to its patients and staff.
The board has a 10-year strategic plan in place that seeks not just to increase the number of patients it serves, but to increase the number of long-term employees it has by making the facility a quality place to work (personal communication, M. Brown, August 14, 2008). This author found the process of planning a renovation daunting and frustrating but learned along the way that whether the project is real or not pre-planning is the most important step (Erickson & Lyon, 2008).
Had more time been spent by the author assuring that the complete assignment was understood another facility design that focused more on patient care would probably have been more appropriate for this project. Along the way some important new things were learned by this author. The link between the physical setting to patient outcomes stands out. While it may seem only logical that a pleasant atmosphere helps healing it is a rather new concept and the studies being conducted show just how much emphasis should be placed on our awareness of and reaction to our surroundings (La Torre, 2006).
This author also learned how intricate and important facility planning is. The width of doorways, hallways, placement of work stations all go into creating a healing environment that is functional and pleasant. Noise levels are important in facilities and special emphasis during construction should be placed on containing the noise to daytime hours (La Torre, 2006).
Change and competition in healthcare are big factors for organizations today and understanding how their strategic planning process helps or hinders their position is important not just simply to help them survive financially but also to provide quality patient outcomes now and in the future. References Erickson, L. , & Lyon, T. (2008). How to Fix a Flawed Process: the Four Rules of Work Design. Family Practice Mangement, 15(6), 29-33. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database Web Site: http://support. bcso. com La Torre, M. (2006). Creating a Healing Environment. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 42(4), 262-264. Retrieved August 13, 2008, from doi:1-. 111/j. 1744-6163-2006. 00086. x Web Site: http://support. ebsco. com Ulrich, R. , Quan, X. , Zimring, C. , Joseph, A. , & Choudhary, R. (2004). The Role of the Physical Environment in the Hospital of the 21st Century: A once-in-a-lifetime Opportunity. Retrieved August 14, 2008, from http://www. healthdesign. org/research/reports