Children’s Launches Study To Evaluate Design At New Hospital
from The Children's Hospital (TCH) News, February 2006
The Children’s Hospital is launching a unique study that will use information from staff, patients and families about the current hospital to evaluate design changes in the new hospital.
The impetus for the study came in 2004, when the architects for Children’s new hospital, H&L Arch-itecture, approached planning staff.
“They were interested in looking at the right way to do things,” said Susan Koch, director of clinical planning at Children’s.
And because the opportunity to build a brand-new, state-of-the-art hospital from the ground up doesn’t come along very often, the firm wanted to capitalize on the chance to learn from what works – and what doesn’t – at the current hospital.
“A study of this scope is most unique,” said Anne Marie Kotzer, nurse researcher at Children’s. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Other studies have found positive links between the effects of natural light and private rooms on patient outcomes, but there are no studies on the effects of the placement of the nurse’s station relative to a patient’s room, for example, or on the placement of a patient bed in the room.
So Children’s and H&L decided to launch a study – the first of its kind. Family and staff satisfaction surveys were created and are currently being pilot-tested with members of the Family Advisory Council and a small group of Children’s staff members. Once finalized, Kotzer and Koch will submit the study to COMIRB for approval.
Families who agree to participate in the voluntary study will be asked questions about the closeness of the waiting room to their child’s room, family quiet space, the noise level and colors in their child’s room, and the availability of parking for visitors. “We have heard things from our families completing the Press-Ganey surveys about the current hospital – that their child’s room is too cold or too noisy, for ex-ample,” Kotzer said. “Those are elements we can improve at the new hospital.”
Numerous design elements already have been incorporated at the new facility based on feedback from patients, families and staff, she said, including private rooms with private bathrooms, respite spaces indoors and outdoors, and individual thermostats in every room.
But a core group of staff helped drive other, less-obvious changes at the new facility: the type and placement of beds in patient rooms, the placement of the bathroom, the type and placement of gas delivery (headwall or boom), and the type of flooring used throughout the hospital.
“We asked environmental services about the floor here – is it comfortable to walk on? Easy to clean? Will it stand up to wear and tear?” Kotzer asked. “We want to make good decisions to make the new hospital better for all staff and patients.”
Nurses, social workers, therapists and house-keeping staff will be asked to answer similar questions; for example, about the closeness of their work stations to patient rooms and the availability of parking.
The results will help other hospitals design new facilities and will help Children’s design additions to the new hospital in the future, Koch said.
Six months and then a year after the move to the new hospital, families and staff will be asked to retake the surveys. Children’s will then compare the results.
“We expect families and staff to report greater satisfaction with hospital aesthetics and amenities, environmental safety and security, and parking and way-finding at the new facility compared to the existing hospital,” Koch said.
“Just as we use the best available evidence for decision-making in clinical practice, hospitals need to be built using Evidence-Based Design,” Kotzer said. “This isn’t just a pretty hospital.
We expect the changes to make a difference.”
The new Children’s Hospital is right on track for its opening in just 21 months. The outside is completely enclosed, and much of the work on the inside has been completed.
