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Recent Posts Categories Case Studies How To Articles Current Trends Technology Rules-of-Thumb Facility Components Inpatient Care Ambulatory Care Emergency Surgery/Special Procedures Imaging/Diagnostic Services Perinatal Services Rehabilitation Services Other Clinical Services Customer Services Support Services About Essentials SpaceMed Website Impact of the Pandemic on Healthcare Facility Planning June 19, 2023 June 19, 2023 by Cynthia Hayward Hospitals and healthcare systems have spent much of the last three years balancing being in a state of emergency readiness while waiting for the next COVID-19 wave and safely delivering routine health services. Many of the challenges that existed before — a shrinking workforce, an aging infrastructure, and narrow operating margins — have worsened during the pandemic. At the onset of the global pandemic, faced with rising COVID admissions, many hospitals canceled elective procedures and redeployed patient care space in new ways to meet the rising demand for beds and new infection control measures. At the same time, U.S. adults delayed or avoided medical care due to their coronavirus-related concerns causing non-COVID admissions to plummet. Starting the third year of the global pandemic, staffing shortages due to burnout were at an all-time high as hospitals still struggled with COVID-19 admissions while treating higher-acuity patients. Hospitals and health systems continue to face increasing costs for labor, drugs, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other medical supplies needed to care for higher-acuity patients. According to the American Hospital Association (AHA), America’s hospitals are experiencing unprecedented financial losses — 2022 was the most financially difficult year for hospitals and health systems since the start of the pandemic, leaving over half of hospitals operating at a financial loss at the end of 2022, and with negative operating margins continuing into 2023. As a result, healthcare organizations are rethinking their capital investments while existing facilities are being retooled, expanded, and underutilized simultaneously. In this post, you can read about some of the current issues in healthcare facility planning — fluctuating utilization and forecasting challenges, shortage of nurses, new safety protocols, rapid growth in telemedicine, advances in telecommunications technology, and integration of imaging into most medical specialties. Read more Categories Current Trends Nursing Unit Space Per Bed Can Vary Significantly June 19, 2023 June 18, 2023 by Cynthia Hayward Have you ever wondered why there is significant variation in the nursing unit space per bed from project to project? Particularly when the number of beds is the same. Historically, this variation was attributed to the mix of private, semiprivate, and multiple-bed patient rooms. However, even today when most hospital building projects in the U.S. have all private patient rooms, the nursing unit space per bed continues to vary. Contributing factors include the size and layout of the private patient room and adjoining toilet/shower room, the specific grouping of the patient rooms within the unit, and the overall design and layout of the floor itself. The amount of family, visitor, and staff amenities provided on the floor and the extent of point-of-care clinical and support services are also factors. Read more Categories Inpatient Care , Case Studies Why Facility Master Plans Are Shelved June 19, 2023 June 14, 2023 by Cynthia Hayward A shelf full of outdated facility master plans used to be a common sight in the facility manager’s office of a large medical center. These are often very thick documents with beautiful graphics that explain in great detail the phased stages of a multi-year building project. There are many reasons why these plans may not have been implemented but the planning process itself is a major factor. Read more Categories How To Articles Confusing Net and Gross Square Feet Can be Disastrous June 16, 2023 June 8, 2023 by Cynthia Hayward Frequent misunderstandings arise when hospital leaders, department staff, planners, and architects confuse net square feet with gross square feet (or net square meters and gross square meters). It is particularly disturbing when facility planners and architects simply specify square feet” in their documents. Read more Categories How To Articles How Many ORs? It’s Complicated June 16, 2023 June 1, 2023 by Cynthia Hayward Planning a surgery suite used to be fairly simple. General operating rooms (ORs) were used for a wide range of procedures and dedicated operating rooms were limited to cardiac surgery and orthopedics. At the same time, interventional radiologists and cardiologists created their own workplaces. Today, planning surgical and endovascular suites is complicated by the convergence of diagnostic imaging and surgical procedures, rapidly changing technology, increasing specialization, and strict distinctions between operating rooms and procedure rooms. From a facility planning perspective, the number, size, and specialization of ORs and endovascular procedure rooms is the single most significant factor contributing to the overall footprint of the suite (and project cost). Moreover, the numbers and sizes of related patient care and support spaces are driven by the number and types of operating/procedure rooms. More importantly, the number of operating/procedure rooms drives ongoing staffing and related operational costs. Read more Categories How To Articles , Surgery/Special Procedures Sizing Imaging and Procedure Rooms June 16, 2023 May 20, 2023 by Cynthia Hayward Imaging and procedure rooms fall into several size categories — small procedure rooms, typical imaging rooms, or larger specialty imaging rooms. Diagnostic equipment has generally become more compact over time. For example, equipment used for chest X-rays, mammography, ultrasound, and pulmonary and neurodiagnostic testing is compact and commonly mobile, requiring only a small procedure room. Most general radiographic and fluoroscopic equipment can be accommodated in a typical imaging room. Computed tomography (CT) units are also becoming more compact but require a contiguous control room. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and interventional procedure suites require a larger footprint that includes the procedure room, control room, and adjacent space for equipment (or system) components. Imaging equipment may also require lead shielding, enhanced floor loading capacity, and other unique design features. The FGI Guidelines also classify imaging rooms based on different levels of patient acuity and intervention. Read more Categories Imaging/Diagnostic Services , Rules-of-Thumb Older posts Page 1 Page 2 … Page 20 Next → SpaceMed Essentials SpaceMed Essentials is a searchable knowledge base for hospital and healthcare facility planners and architects. Cynthia Hayward, FAIA, writes about predesign planning for healthcare facilities and current issues facing facility planners and architects. SpaceMed Guide (Fourth Edition) Current trends. State-of-the-art planning methodologies. Industry benchmarks. Room-by-room space planning templates in Microsoft Excel. Aligns with the FGI Guidelines. Quick. Efficient. Effective. Why reinvent the wheel every time you plan a new project? Purchase Today Recent Posts Impact of the Pandemic on Healthcare Facility Planning Nursing Unit Space Per Bed Can Vary Significantly Why Facility Master Plans Are Shelved Confusing Net and Gross Square Feet Can be Disastrous How Many ORs? It’s Complicated Sizing Imaging and Procedure Rooms Categories Current Trends How To Articles Case Studies Technology Rules-of-Thumb Facility Components Inpatient Care Ambulatory Care Emergency Surgery/Special Procedures Imaging/Diagnostic Services Perinatal Services Rehabilitation Services Other Clinical Services Customer Services Support Services Search Search for: Copyright 2004-2024 SpaceMed. All rights...