VISIONS IN ARCHITECTURE
Firm's role on the project: Planning, Programming, Architecture, Design, Interiors
EBD Goal
To renovate two fifty-year-old patient wings into private rooms in a cost effective way for Butler County Health Care Center. The hypothesized outcomes resulting from the patient room design interventions included fewer patient and staff falls and favorable patient satisfaction scores.
Challenge
With the existing structure, there was very little room to create safe and accessible patient rooms. This forced us to create an efficient layout. We used BIM in the interview room to show three dimensional design solutions incorporating evidence-based design features gleaned from The Center for Health Design, HERD and the RIPPLE database. Interpreting the evidence was a straightforward application of recognized logical design features taken from patient room zoning and staff/patient interactions.
Solution
With enthusiastic support from the hospital administration, chip board mock-up rooms were created in a maintenance vehicle bay. Nursing staff and medical staff simulated patient transfers, code blue situations and toilet assistance. Design was monitored by architectural personnel and hospital representatives.
The first twelve months of monitoring indicated a reduction of 80% in patient falls. Monitoring will continue for a minimum of two additional years. If the results are consistent for 36 months, the entire design fee will be recovered by the savings from patient and staff injuries alone.