Hospitals and health systems are battling for their lives. But in the midst of all the change, one constant is the ability of the built environment to improve patient experience, support staff retention and ultimately impact business success.
The built environment has long been recognized as crucial to shaping human behavior. In industry after industry, buildings and constructions have evolved to address new business challenges and imperatives for success. Healthcare is no different.
At Methodist Richardson Medical Center, we've partnered with Steelcase Health, a leader in healthcare design applications and solutions, to explore the power that "place" has in enabling patient-centered care and engaging our caregivers. Like any workspace, a hospital should be carefully crafted not only to meet the needs of the customer — the patient — but also to engage and meet the needs of the staff — the physicians, nurses and other team members who make excellent outcomes possible.
As clearly articulated in many studies, improving staff engagement and wellbeing results in improved business performance.1 This is exactly the approach we took with Steelcase Health in building our newly opened Methodist Richardson Medical Center expansion. Given the positive results we’ve seen so far in patient satisfaction and staff engagement, I propose three core best practices for hospitals building new structures or redesigning existing ones:
Your patient? Your customer. Patients have more choice in providers and expectations of care than ever. As consumer-directed healthcare expands, it’s time that we start treating our patients, and their families, as valued guests. Outpatient spaces must be reimagined with a consumer focus as hubs of efficiency and convenience, and inpatient rooms must be designed with a concierge model in mind.
Collaboration is key. The shift to value-based care is forcing a new level of collaboration and creating previously unknown relationships and team structures between physicians, nurses and even entire departments. Hospital design that enables these new workflows, and creates a more supportive environment for staff, will not only improve retention but will result in new, improved patterns of behavior.
The family caregiver as co-pilot. Families are taking a more and more active role in the care of their loved ones, and this trend will only expand. They hold great decision-making sway in where their loved ones receive care, so the hospital environment should be designed with them in mind, which means access to technology, comfortable waiting spaces and a beautiful design experience.
Ultimately, we are big believers that the built environment is a critical level for provider organizations looking to impact the behavior of the people within their walls – from physicians and nurses, to patients and their families. The healthcare system will be better off if we all realize the power of design.
1 Gallup, Inc. (2013). Engagement at Work: Its Effect on Performance Continues in Tough Economic Times. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/strategicconsulting/161459/engagement-work-effect-performance-continues-tough-economic-times.aspx