Houston Medical Journal, November 2008
Vol. 6, Issue 8
Growth & Expansion:
A hospital designed for women and infants
BY LINDA RUSSELL Chief Executive Officer, The Woman's Hospital of Texas
Can the physical design of a hospital that cares specifically for women and their babies enhance its level of care simply by improving the way the facility functions? This was the challenge that The Woman's Hospital faced in the expansion of our original facility.
Our goals were to increase patient capacity and flow while reflecting current, and possibly future, trends in women's gynecologic, obstetric, pediatric, and general healthcare.
When a hospital undertakes a redesign or expansion, administrators have a unique opportunity to improve efficiencies and the quality of patient care by rethinking how the facility is physically organized. In addition, issues of aesthetics, comfort, way-finding and technology can be carefully planned from the outset. By stepping back and looking at operations from the inside out, we were able to make thoughtful design decisions that would directly improve the experience and overall well-being of the hospital's patients while simultaneously increasing the effectiveness of the staff committed to their care.
Working under the guidance of world-class architects, Earl Swensson Associates (ESa), Woman's is centered on planning effective "continuum of care" strategies, which include obstetrics and, under that umbrella, encompasses ante partum care, labor and delivery, c-sections and post-partum care. The foundation of our design was to ensure that mother and baby would have immediate access to the care they need when time is of the essence. Accordingly, critical areas are all located on the same floor, enabling rapid response when emergencies arise. This is the core reason the ante partum and labor and delivery units are situated directly adjacent to the operating room suites.
Another priority is keeping medical care accessible to newborns at all times " and quickly. At Woman's, we addressed this issue by placing infant stabilization rooms throughout the labor and delivery area and adjacent to the operating room suites while locating our most critical care nursery immediately adjacent to the operating room suites.
Taking the patient's perspective
Hospitalization is a stressful time for a woman and her family regardless of the procedure being performed. While anxieties cannot be erased by the design of the facility, pleasant, comfortable surroundings can go a long way toward easing the strain. During our redesign, we strived to make the hospital as warm and welcoming as possible "creating a comforting environment, both psychological and physical. In the not-sodistant past, this would not have been a patient consideration. But today's patient is much more attuned to design than were patients of the past./p>
To address this need, we took many of our aesthetic cues from the hospitality industry. Like hotel guests, women patients prefer to feel as if they are being cared for in their own homes. We wanted to re-create, as nearly as possible, the ambiance of a hotel while addressing the need for extraordinary cleanliness and accessibility. Wherever possible, we chose pleasing finishes with clean lines and soothing textures that would also blend well with the existing facility.
Together with the architects at ESa, we selected the calming influence of a neutral color palette and added sweeping window walls that admit plenty of natural light. This is particularly important to ante partum patients, whose stay may be as long as a month or more and who need to stay connected to the outside world, by knowing what the weather is like and being able to see the street scene.
Wayfinding
Our expansion benefits from a comparatively narrow floor plate, so wayfinding "navigating from place to place " was not as significant an issue as it often is in large hospitals. However, we did reorient the main entrance to provide canopied walkways to keep visitors dry when walking from the hospital to the garage on one of Houston's many rainy days.
Patients are our priority. During construction, rather than moving the Breast Center to an offsite location and inconveniencing patients, we opted to relocate our administrative offices offsite and let the Breast Center remain on-site.
Technology
In the past, nurses might have needed to roll a computer around to document patient care with every procedure; now, every patient room in the expansion has a computer in place, helping nurses and staff remain in patient rooms. The rooms are also technology-ready, so patients can use their own laptops and PDAs for wireless Internet access.
Family and visitors
Most hospitals encourage family member interaction, and Woman's is certainly no exception. Family members are permitted to visit at any hour and stay overnight, and patient rooms are furnished with a sofa bed. Additionally, nurses gladly provide blankets and pillows to make everybody comfortable.
Room service
Another influence from the hospitality industry "and one that's proven very popular with family members, as well as patients" is room service. At Woman's we made a simple change with a big impact by allowing family members to order from the same menu and pay by credit card when the food arrives instead of having to go elsewhere for food.
Storage space
Anywhere you go, space is always at a premium and hospitals are no exception. We noted that patients' perennial complaint was that there was never enough room for all the necessary toiletries. In our planning, we tested this theory by unpacking a patient's overnight bag and calculating how much space was needed. Then we made sure to provide abundant shelves and cabinet space for personal care items "and even more shelves for flowers. In bathrooms, we also provided removable showerheads to accommodate a woman's bathing preferences.
Women today have many choices of healthcare facilities devoted exclusively to obstetric and gynecological care. The field is broad, and trends continue to shift. At The Woman's Hospital, the core of our identity is our superb physicians and staff and our long, proven history of outstanding quality. Our recent hospital expansion presented a fine opportunity to build on this identity. We were able not only to improve efficiencies, but to embody architecture that would foster healing. Our research in the latest knowledge and perspectives, and our investment in aesthetics, convenience, accessibility, and amenities is expected to ultimately yield even better care for our female patients and their infants. The new facility is slated to open in February 2009.