In December 2014, Dallas-based University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center opened its William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.
Not only did the 460-bed hospital open five months ahead of schedule and come in under budget, but it has also been identified as a Top Performer by The Joint Commission and received the Rising Star Award from the University HealthSystem Consortium.
Just how did the hospital do it?
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, John J. Warner, MD, CEO of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center's University Hospitals, outlined the steps the medical center took to achieve success.
Here are five innovative techniques UT Southwest Medical Center used to create the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.
1. Utilize planning groups. Although planning groups — which give hospital committees a chance to assist in the planning and development process — are not a new phenomenon, UT Southwestern used them in a new way. UT Southwestern's President, Daniel K. Podolsky, MD, chaired the committee that oversaw the hospital project. He commissioned 12 planning groups — made up of 150 physicians, nurses, trainees, staff, patients and community members — that met each week for three months.
Hand-picked faculty and staff members led the weekly meetings, during which they discussed everything about the planning process — specifically how the new hospital would fit UT Southwestern's broader mission. Naturally, the project's architects were present, but they "were encouraged to listen, rather than talk, before they began to sketch." Due to this collaborative technique, the entire design phase only lasted nine months.
2. Engage patients. Patients weren't left out of the process. After all, "[n]o one understands a hospital's strengths and weaknesses better than patients and families." UT Southwestern asked patients about their specific needs for the new hospital. By doing so, UT Southwestern was able to modify its design to fit patients' requests, which included a separate discharge exit, more comfortable furniture in patients' rooms and a videoconferencing application.
3. Request outside advice. UT Southwestern sought advice from over 20 hospitals known for high-quality care and patient services. The medical center also reached out to organizations and individuals from outside the healthcare industry, including shopping malls, museums, companies like Texas Instruments and designers of top-notch hotels and airline lounges. Through these interactions, UT Southwestern revamped its proposed design even more by learning about directional aids and maps, moving and storing supplies and creating functional waiting areas.
4. Solicit feedback. After the nine-month design phase, UT Southwestern had one more step before beginning construction on the hospital. It gathered written feedback from over 600 physicians, nurses, community members and staff members on the hospital plans and mock-ups. The medical center even asked its environmental services staff to clean the materials used in the mock-ups and asked their input on which materials were easiest to clean.
5. Learn from mistakes. Everything didn't go completely smoothly for UT Southwestern. "Looking back, we see that we could have involved our frontline staff more in deciding how we deliver and stock materials," wrote Dr. Warner. For staff, the contents of the bins in supply rooms were hard to identify. But the medical center learned from this mishap and directly involved staff in coming up with a long-term solution.