May 3, 2018

The Scoop

Safety through Design  

Healthcare facilities use a variety of methods and protocols to reduce adverse events. But these procedures are sometimes created in a silo, limiting their effectiveness with the possibility of actually increasing injuries and errors. 

To address this, we are providing a workshop in Chicago, June 25-26, that will inform, challenge and advance your understanding of how design impacts patient and staff safety, and introduce innovative solutions from experts in six key areas:

• Patient handling
• Behavioral health
• Patient falls
• Medication errors
• Workplace violence
• Infection prevention

The best part is, workshop attendees will have an action plan filled with new ideas and tools to bring back to their project teams. I would like to actually encourage you to bring your team to this workshop and work directly with the nine faculty members who are really a "who's who" of safety thought leaders. You can read more about this workshop including learning objectives, the agenda and speaker bios here.

Speaking of safety, we have a Health Design Insights Networking event coming up May 17 in Nashville, where Christopher Pietrzykowski, Director, AdvanTEC, United Technologies Corporation, will describe the process used for a recently completed LEED Platinum state-of-the-art intelligent building located in Jupiter FL. Chris will illustrate how making use of advanced building solutions can create an environment that enhances building occupant experience, increases operational efficiencies as well as protect people and property.

Want even more resources with the latest thinking on safety?  Our Insights and Solutions section of the website has everything from webinars, executive summaries, EDAC Advocate firm projects to tools, interviews and more - you can find all the safety resources here.

Have you recently completed a project that used an evidence-based design process?  You might want to submit an application to the Evidence-Based Design Touchstone Awards. Applications for this round are due on June 15 and we are providing information sessions to answer any questions you may have on May 9,  May 11 and June 8.  Bring your questions about the awards or submission criteria to this interactive, online information session. Remember, this round of award recipients will be recognized at this year's Healthcare Design Expo & Conference. Awards are given to projects that show exemplary achievement across touchstones of the EBD process: collaboration, evaluation, and sharing. (You can see the 2017 recipients here.)

As we continue to celebrate our 25th anniversary, our pledge to you is to continue to offer you the needed tools, resources and insights to ensure all healthcare environments are healthy, safe and produce the best possible outcomes for patients, families, and staff. You can be a part of our celebration by donating to The Center for Health Design. Donations help us achieve the research, education, and advocacy goals that unleash design's healing power in the U.S. and abroad and help us to reach our financial goal of ensuring a strong future for decades yet to come. Click here to make a contribution to The Center and make a difference in the future of healthcare.  

Be well,

Debra Levin, EDAC
President and CEO

Industry News Briefs
 

Four Key Design Strategies - How Architecture Can Support a Health Care Organization's Growth

A growing body of research points to the unique edge offered by design in curbing operational costs and advancing positive patient and resident outcomes for health organizations. The combination of architectural design and clinical planning is a neutral, resourceful and mighty force that can propel advancements in health care delivery.

Through this, health care providers can overcome the social, economic and political barriers and arrive at a system that is financially alert, operationally efficient and socially responsive by design.

To create these environments to surmount the pressing challenges facing health care in the 21st century, however, long-held assumptions of what is important in health care facilities must be challenged.  Health Facilities Management, more . . .

Apple's Recent Hospital Deals May Signal Industry Shakeup

In a recent opinion piece published by the Harvard Business Review, David Blumenthal, MD, who served as the National Coordinator for Health IT from 2009 to April 2011, writes that Apple's recent pacts with big-name healthcare systems might indeed be poised to disrupt the healthcare industry.

Blumenthal co-authored the piece with former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, and both contend the pact has not gotten the attention it deserves.

Apple's healthcare move "could herald truly disruptive change in the U.S. healthcare system," Blumenthal and Chopra write. How? "It could liberate healthcare data for game-changing new uses, including empowering patients as never before."

The idea is to give patients easier access to their own data. HEATHCARE FINANCE,  more. . . 

Architectural design of health care facilities, including technology and equipment, and its effect on patient safety has become a focus for health care risk managers.

To deliver safe and trusted health care, many key areas have to be considered, such as changes in the health care delivery processes, the culture of the organization and the physical environment.

The physical environment needs to be aligned with the current care delivery models to support the staff and the resources they depend on to ensure the safe delivery of care.

Understanding the interrelationships between humans, the tools they use and the environment in which they work is fundamental to the study of health care facility design and its effect on nursing performance as well as that of other care providers who interface with the facility. Humans are more apt to make errors in areas that are poorly designed. Health Facilities Management, more . . .

Sixth Annual Internationally Acclaimed CODAawards Celebrate Commissioned Art Projects

The internationally acclaimed CODAawards, now in their sixth year, celebrate the design projects that most successfully integrate commissioned art into interior, architectural, or public spaces. The awards, selected from projects around the world, honor the individuals and the teams whose collective imaginations create the public and private spaces that inspire us every day. Submit projects for consideration by May 31, 2018. CODAworx, more. . .