Free Essay On Healthcare Facility Design

Introduction

Facilities design is increasingly becoming a crucial aspect of their development. That owes to the increased focus on the effects that designs have on the facilities use. In addition, the healthcare industry has been one of the fields highly focusing on facilities designs because they play a crucial role in service delivery. The various design methods include the evidence-based design. Thus, the proposed development of a cancer center at the University of Miami Hospital should be designed with the use of the evidence-based design. The following report seeks to provide an overview of the method, its application in healthcare and importance to the project.

Analysis

History of health care facility design with an emphasis on significant changes and approaches
Healthcare facility history goes back to the time when temples were used, and the care facilities and healing were dedicated to healing gods rather than specialized equipments and facilities. The progress towards physicians who set broken bones stitched wounds and used substances to control pain resulted to change in facilities as they adapted special care rooms that were designed for multiple patients. The oldest architectural designed healthcare facility has been claimed to be at Mihintale in Sri-Lanka that was built in 9th century AD. The design was a close match of the patients rooms mainly used in today’s care facilities equipped with surgical instruments and medical troughs. Other earlier and well documented healthcare facilities include the Roman military hospitals that were designed as small patient rooms that had anterooms around courtyards. The rooms had multiple beds hence reflecting the modern concept of multiple patients care. However, there were no public hospital facilities but physicians made house calls. (Healthcare Design, 2014)
However, as the Roma Empire increasingly embraced Christianity, healthcare became their key focus and monasteries were constructed including care facilities for the sick hence hospitals were attached to cathedrals. In that respect, the public could access healthcare facilities in large wards while physicians continued to make house calls. Later, there was an expansion of public hospitals that had facilities housing multiple patients and that were designed to offer patients with a suitable environment. Finally, the facilities have evolved to the modern day facilities that have modern equipment and technologies and mainly based on evidence-based designs rather than the traditional design. (Healthcare Design, 2014)

Use of evidence-based design in health care facility planning

Healthcare market has had the greatest focus on facilities design. That has resulted in the evidence-based design becoming more of interest as it goes beyond the physical environment and the general idea of a facility’s use of the impact it has on its occupants. The evidence-based design seeks to gauge the impact that a facility design would have on patients and employees morale as well as on productivity. The method stems from the industry’s recognition that the physical environment has a measurable impact on occupants wellbeing that is crucial in healthcare. Thus, properly designed facilities help enhance the healthcare institutions in meeting their objectives of enhancing wellbeing. (Bell, 2009)
With the method, there have been increased studies by architects, executives and designers on the impact that facilities have on patients’ outcome. The method takes the form of critical thinking in architect and brings together various stakeholders for making and interpreting facility designs based on researched evidence. Consequently, the studies on healthcare facilities aspects including décor, the use of overhead pages as well as placement of bathrooms and sinks and the effect that they have on patients have been crucial in enhancing institutions’ service delivery effectiveness. (Bell, 2009)
In addition, through research in search of evidence, the method can identify and measure as well as interpret the data on infections and problems that patients acquire in hospitals. Further, the research can identify the length of patients’ stay and the extent of medical errors and the links to the facilities design. With that information, the facilities can be designed to enhance healthcare. The method also differs from the traditional design methods in which the architects and designers depend on their intuition and knowledge as well as principles of good design as they seek to comply with regulations and design codes. That leaves the facility’s functioning as well as the impact on the occupants unattended as there is no evidence-based consideration. (Bell, 2009)

Importance of the evidence-based design to the particular facility project

A cancer care facility is a center for not only researching and using technology to determine the best solutions to patients, but also a place where the patients spend their time and receive their treatments. (University of Miami Hospital, 2014) The nature of the cancer treatment would also require continued patients’ visits for a given period or care in the facility for some time. In that view, the facility’s development should focus on not only its functional aspect, but also the facility that has the suitable appeal to all the visitors and those working within the organization. That would be in terms of their safety, comfort and attractiveness. In that view, it would be crucial for the facility to be developed with the use of the evidence-based design that addresses the stated aspects. (US News, 2014)

Conclusion

The analysis indicates that healthcare facilities design has evolved over time. That has been experienced as the facilities moved from being basic care facilities to gain importance in terms of their functioning. With further knowledge and research, the facilities designs have become crucial owing to the identified link between the design and impact on patients and other occupants. In that respect, evidence-based design has been crucial in healthcare and has been applied as a means of enhancing healthcare. Finally, application of the design method in development of the proposed cancer center has been identified as important as the facility is expected to play a crucial role in the cancer patients’ wellbeing given that they would spend much time in it.

References

Bell, D. (2009). Planning Design and Construction of Healthcare Facilities. Joint
Commission Resources. Retrieved from, http://www.jointcommissioninternational.org/assets/1/14/PDC09_Sample_Pages.pdf
Healthcare Design. (2014). History of Hospitals and wards. Retrieved from,
http://www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com/article/history-hospitals-and-wards
http://umiamihospital.com/
US News. (2014). The University of Miami Hospital and Clinics: Stats and Services.
Retrieved from, http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/fl/university-of-miami-hospital-and-clinics-6390610/details