Insights & Solutions

This Ambulatory Care Center Design Tool (ACCDT), developed by Dr. Anjali Joseph and Dr. Zahra Zamani from Clemson University in collaboration with The Center for Health Design (CHD), builds upon a series of papers, best practice case studies and in-depth literature reviews conducted by CHD as well as CHD's Clinic Design Post-Occupancy Evaluation Toolkit – Tool 2 Audit of Physical Environment with additions from a thesis by Crews (2013). The tool supports design teams in making key design decisions about ambulatory care centers linked to evidence based design goals and principles.

Learn about: the importance of social health for older adults, the definitions and characteristics of select social behavior concepts, and design implications of social concepts.

The goal of this project was to improve patients’ overall outpatient surgery experience by reducing wait times, reducing the number of transfers/handoffs for each patient, and increasing on-time starts for surgical procedures.

The goal for this project was to have the interdisciplinary design team pursue the creation of a total environment of care with the following objectives: reduce patient and visitor stress, reduce wait times and improve flow, improve staff sightlines both for security as well as clinical care, and capture natural light and views of nature at an urban edge. 

The goal for this project was to create a highly realistic participatory learning experiences in an environment that does not involve an actual patient. This method of teaching is rapidly becoming a new standard in both primary and continuing education for health professionals. The intent is to improve learning experiences through improved personal and technical skills and interdisciplinary team communications in an environment designed and built around current evidence-based medicine, evidence-based practice and evidence-based design knowledge.

The goal for this project was to improve efficiency, safety, and satisfaction for both patients and staff with the design of a new bed tower for the hospital, a place where patients get better and where staff wishes to work.

The goal for this project involved the renovation of the existing Adler Building with a new entry addition to create an identifiable and convenient birthing center with all services in one building. Team members used the EBD Checklist Tool to identify more than 20 design goals. 

It’s the little things that matter when it comes to the message you are sending your patients and their families. In other words, the better your waiting rooms and public spaces look, the louder the message you’ll send to your audience that you care about them, their comfort, and their safety.

The value of taking a patient-centered approach to providing healthcare seems obvious. After all, the patient is the one who ultimately reaps the benefits of good health, so shouldn’t he or she also have the chance to take an active role in his treatment process, guiding his own outcomes? That’s the premise of a Patient-Centered Medical Home. Yet for healthcare organizations that provide a safety need for low-income and high risk populations, getting some of the poorest and sickest patients involved in their own care can be quite challenging.

How far do you go to involve your patients as a valued part of your organization? The answer may become increasingly important over the next few years. In the current healthcare climate, accrediting bodies and insurers are expecting providers to step up their efforts to design their care models in such a way as to encourage patients to take an active role in their own medical care.