The health care system has recently focused on the architectural design of hospitals addressing the safety of their patients using modern technologies and equipment. Therefore, it is significant to do several changes to improve the health care process, the overall environment for the hospital and address the challenges in health care and improve safety. In such a state, the nurses and the patients will remain in a secure environment enhancing safe care(Reiling, Hughes & Murphy, 2008). Although many hospitals do several redesigns together with their technologies and equipment, many forget to consider how the changes will boost the patients’ safety. This point raises a big question to improve the general hospital environment for the nurses to improve on their work, other workers, and the patients.

The design of facilities with their equipment, movable and stationery, significantly affects the performance of the people working in the area. This effect commonly happens in the health care where the employees, the patients, and their families need attention (Reiling, Hughes & Murphy, 2008). According to recent research, the outcome of nurses and the health of the patients significantly relies on the physical environment. Therefore, to improve the result of the staff and the patients, health facilities should focus on the possible conditions for their clinicians. These facilities can cater to the clinicians by using the latest designs to address the problem of distractions, to standardize the locations of equipment, and provide enough room for working.

When doing facility design, it is good to focus on the human factors to minimize the errors at work, increase the outcome of the staff, and improve the safety of the patients(Reiling, Hughes & Murphy, 2008). However, this approach requires an approach to touching even the redesigning of equipment and electric technologies. I once worked at the St. Joseph’s Hospital and the condition there was not very conducive. While the management believed the several errors and problems they faced touched every other hospital, they later realized it was their fault. After the administration noticed their system flaws, they ordered a redesign of their Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

St. Joseph’s Hospital needed to redesign their ICU where they would include a new floor plan that would provide more space to the staff, patients, and the families of the patients in the ICU(Ely, 2002). Therefore, the hospital focused on the automation of the ICU and the design of the ICU in a way that the patient would have a clear vision and the nurses would have reduced fatigue. While the new system would reduce the noise and standardize the services in the hospital, it would also reduce the number of patient transfers to other facilities.

For the redesign of St. Joseph’s Hospital, the senior officers required the help of the nurses who would suggest on the best design to increase their productivity, and they proposed the amendments that were critical to the facility. First, they recommended for single-patient rooms as they increased patient privacy and improved the quality of care at the same time(Reiling, Hughes & Murphy, 2008). Figure 1 shows the standardized single-patient rooms which have two entrances, and a closer staff working zone. In the alcove with the natural light, the area has a store where the nurses can easily access the equipment they need for patient care. The family waiting room follows at the right with resting points. The bathroom is just ahead of the patient’s bed reducing the impediments of movement. The rooms will also have several connections with the machines and oxygen gas supply.

Figure 1: Floor Layout of Single-Patient Rooms in St. Joseph’s Hospital

Secondly, the nurses suggested on the visibility of the patients to the nurses and other staff in the hospital. They talked of putting up pods to increase the efficiency of service delivery and the sight of the patients. The doors in the nook have glass windows which have a blind. Therefore, the nurses can check on the patients even without opening the door or from their place of work(Villar, 2013). Each of the rooms is under total surveillance from the cameras while there is more natural lighting from the large windows to reduce the cost of the operations in the hospital.

Thirdly, the hospital keyed on the automation of their systems where they could to improve on the safety of the patients. Therefore, the nurses suggested for the electronic medical records in the patient rooms. These systems would enhance communication and the sharing of information amongst the caregivers(Villar, 2013). The automation at St. Joseph’s Hospital include the patients’ lifts for all the rooms, a nurse communication system, the physician order entry, and new patients’ beds. This technological advancement appeared to be a significant feature in the safety assurance to the patients and increased the efficiency of medical care services.

Therefore, these new implementations will help the hospital improve on the efficiency of their services, enhance on the quality care to the patients, and reduce the costs of operations between the staff(Villar, 2013). The new design of the ICU would affect the nurses by increasing their operability, the patients’ by ensuring better health care and increased safety, and the management by reducing the cost of operations for the patients. This project reduced the cost of expenditure on St. Joseph’s Hospital while it enhanced significantly on the safe side. The safely designed facility will ensure visibility, standardizations, increased value stream, a continuous flow, and the best of all reduce the transfers of patients (Ely, 2002). It is significant for the people doing hospital redesigns to focus on the safety culture and low expenditure to the authorities.

References

Ely, W. (2002). Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU. Retrieved from http://tetaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CAM_ICU_training.pdf

Reiling, J., Hughes, R., & Murphy, M. (2008). The Impact of Facility Design on Patient    Safety. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2633/

Villar, S. (2013). Nursing Department Redesign: Telemetry/Zettler Upgrade. Retrieved from             http://www.sjo.org/documents/Nursing_Newsletter/Nursing-Newsletter_November-          2013_FINAL.pdf

 
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