Some hospitals are kicking off the new year with plans to improve the patient experience by upgrading patient rooms and birthing suites, and even doing away with waiting rooms.
As evidenced by suddenly overcrowded gyms near and far, a new year is about a fresh start. For many of us, it's time to start eating better, to get back into shape, and to revamp that tired wardrobe. And we're not alone. Some hospitals are heeding the annual call for renewal and revival, too.
Several hospitals and health systems rang in the new year by focusing on plans to retool parts of their buildings in order to make them more attractive, offer better infection control, provide a quieter healing environment, and ultimately, create an improved overall patient experience.
Three hospitals in particular have caught my eye. Here's how these organizations are spending millions of dollars in the hope of attracting new patients.
Larger, Quieter Patient Rooms
Jupiter Medical Center, a 283-bed Florida hospital, is applying patient-centered design principles to its $44 million Florence A. De George Pavilion addition. The new wing will boast large patient rooms—nearly double the size of those in the main hospital—each with a dedicated area for family members.
Most of the rooms will be "same-handed" which means that they are designed with an identical layout so that navigation is instinctive for staff—an idea that came from the airline industry, says architect Ted Moore.
"Pilots move from plane to plane to plane, and if you moved the controls in every kind of plane, they might make a mistake under pressure … so the idea is create some commonality between all the rooms so when a nurse needs to find something in the room, it's generally in the same location," he told The Florida Trend.
As a result, these rooms will also be quieter than traditional mirrored patient rooms, where he headwall of a patient bed in one room is shared with the headwall of the bed in the adjacent room.
If you've ever been a patient on a loud, bustling floor, you know that a little peace and quiet can make all the difference.
iPads Make Waiting Rooms Obsolete
My local coffee shop recently transitioned to a tablet POS system, which seems to jibe with their distressed leather armchairs and organic fair-trade coffee. However, I'm not sure what I'd think if I were checked into a doctor's appointment with an iPad.
To find out, I simply need to book a visit at one of the eight new Mosaic Life Care centers, practices that are part of Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph, MO. There, greeters check patients in on iPads and escort them down the hall to see their physicians.
The buildings also feature lobbies with waterfalls, modern metal sculptures, and multistory atriums. And get this—there are no reception desks. No waiting rooms either.
The hospital decided to create these modern centers, with the help of a former Disney Imagineer no less, in order to maintain its bottom line while its former patient base stagnated. In 2010, hospital executives hatched a plan to expand into nearby affluent suburbs and tap into a new, younger demographic with modern, state-of-the-art clinics.
"We knew we would end up slowly dying by a thousand cuts," Mark Laney, Hartland president and CEO told the Kansas City Star. "We needed to dramatically reinvent ourselves to survive and thrive in a new environment."
Fewer Rooms, More Water-Birth Suites
Just outside Minneapolis, Methodist Hospital is seeking an influx of new patients as well, as it approaches the end of its $11 million birth center renovation, which aims to deliver a more personalized and relaxed environment for expectant mothers and families.
The St. Louis Park, MN birth center will feature four water-birth suits in response to rising demand, as well as additional postpartum suites for families to stay overnight, and other amenities such as breastfeeding recliners and refrigerators. The center will also incorporate a nature theme in patient rooms and use design elements to conceal intimidating high-tech equipment.
The goal of the renovation, which was conceived in 2011, is to create an "optimal healing environment" for expectant moms, Clinical Nursing Director Katherine Todd, whose doctoral work focused on healing design and integrative health, told the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
And while the redesign will actually reduce the birth center's patient rooms by four, hospital leaders are confident that patient numbers, which have taken a dip in recent years, will increase.
Last year, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota opened a $50 million birth center and critical care nursery just 15 minutes away from Methodist, but Todd insists its birthing center renovations are uninfluenced by any competition.
"It's our response to what the community was looking for," she said. "The motivator is really to take the best care of our families."
Marianne Aiello is a contributing writer at HealthLeaders Media.