Insights & Solutions

Jacobs Medical Center on University of California, San Diego’s (UCSD) east campus in La Jolla is located in the heart of the area’s nexus of biomedical research centers and hospitals. The 10-story, 509,500-square-foot facility is built next to UCSD’s existing Thornton Hospital and connects on multiple floors. It includes a bone marrow transplant unit, 14 operating rooms, labor and delivery unit, NICU and birthing center, and a medical education center with three theaters. Amenities include a chapel, courtyard, garden, and terraces. The building in LEED-registered.

Located on the shores of Lake Michigan, the Bronson South Haven Hospital brings a unique delivery of care model and defines a new era healthcare to the local neighborhood and surrounding communities. The 52,000 SF Hospital and Medical Offices replaces an aging, full-service 49 bed community hospital serving both Allegan and Van Buren Counties in Western Michigan. The first floor consists of an inpatient unit, emergency department, imaging, support spaces, as well as the public lobby and dining space. The second floor includes a physician practice setting with multiple exam and treatment rooms to support primary and specialty care providers.

As individuals age, physical, mental, and societal challenges become more prevalent. This intensive one-day virtual workshop explores those challenges and discusses programming and design interventions that can assist people (and caregivers). Expert faculty will present case studies and examples that integrate architecture, design and technology into living environments that are not only safe, but foster wellness and longevity.

E4H planned and designed the first inpatient bed expansion at Virginia Hospital Center since 2004. The multi-phased project will convert existing medical offices on floors 3 and 4 into state-of-the-art inpatient units, with private patient rooms that are 60% larger than other units and 30% larger than standard patient rooms.

The project's mission was to solve the extensive inpatient needs of the campus, with the goal of increasing the number of single-rooms from 30% to 90% and updating the oldest rooms on the campus. The planning & conceptual design process involved heavy user group input including collaboration with the Facility Master Planning Steering Committee, Sustainability Council, Internal Departments, Design User Groups for nursing, support, and ancillary services, and Patients and Families Design User Group.

Taking advantage of the collective knowledge and expertise in attendance, this webinar will offer interdisciplinary perspectives to evaluate current cutting edge design solutions, help attendees to develop solutions of their own, and inspire further research with the aspiration to transform the future of the care team station in inpatient behavioral health settings.  

This engaging webinar panel will bring together a diverse group of industry thought leaders to explore where these challenges exist and how the built environment, technology, community, and innovative new models could reshape the future of health, wellness and how and where we will age.  

Dhala, A., Sasangohar, F., Kash, B., Ahmadi, N., & Masud, F. (2020). Rapid implementation and innovative applications of a virtual ICU during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study. Journal of Medical Internet Research

The novelty of the coronavirus, combined with the complexity of treating COVID-19 patients, forced many organizations to redirect their critical care staff to the COVID-19 units for 24-hour bedside coverage. The hospital accelerated and expanded their tele-critical care program that connected ICU patient rooms to remote caregivers - virtual ICU (vICU). This technology ended up augmenting their critical care capacity during the COVID-19 surge. The program was expedited with COVID, and over the weeks, multiple ICUs implemented the vICU and became COVID-19 units.  While the program was not intended for virtual visits, the virtual setup became a welcomed communication tool during the pandemic. The Ops Center collaborated with bedside staff to coordinate virtual family visits, which improved emotional well-being for patients and families. Anxiety about PPE shortages were alleviated, and medical staff and specialists felt more protected with a reduced number of times they had to go into the room.

Join us for this virtual interactive, collaborative, problem-solving workshop intended to enable project stakeholders (designers, facility executives, administrators, care providers) to employ physical design strategies and methodologies that support improved care for children. Representatives from internationally acclaimed children’s hospitals will share insights into the latest developments and future direction for pediatric care. The esteemed faculty will present pediatric evidence-based design studies and best practices that integrate architecture, design and technology with innovative medical practice to create high-quality, high-tech care in a safe and enriching environment. Attendees will also share questions and ideas with the owners and faculty through interactive panel discussion.

In this workshop, expert faculty will share current physical, mental and societal challenges posed when individuals age, discuss programming and design interventions that can assist people (and their care givers) with those challenges, and present case studies and examples that integrate architecture, design and technology into healthy, safe living environments.