Many healthcare owners strive to continually improve the user experience for the patients, staff, visitors and vendors who populate their facility every day. Building, expanding or renovating hospitals is the perfect opportunity to address any aspects of those experiences that may need improvement.
For bed towers, where patients typically stay longer and require higher levels of care, design goals often focus on enhancing comfort, convenience and efficiency.
Technology can significantly contribute to these objectives. Whether geared toward patient engagement or staff effectiveness, tech integrations can help redefine what it means to stay in the hospital.
Patient room of the future
For a new patient tower, under construction in Charlotte, North Carolina, designers explored an ideal patient room, dubbed the “room of the future.” Key integrations included clinical observation and telemedicine capabilities built into the room, allowing the doctor to call from anywhere or for nurses to check in virtually. That communication can go two ways, with patients also able to ask for what they need from nearby staff.
Ideas such as a bedside touchpad device — or even the patient’s phone — offer occupants control over their environment, and can include such aspects as the window shades, lighting or the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. These types of personalized experiences can aid in healing, and patients given choices or control often report higher satisfaction.
Digitally connected
Digital boards display patient and care information in real time. Unlike whiteboards, which must be updated individually across a unit or floor, the digital option allows a nurse to update rooms from a single location — and much more quickly. These real-time updates on staff shift changes and patient status or needs, connected to the patient’s electronic medical record, improve quality of care and reduce the risk of missed communication.
The telehealth center at Children’s National in Washington, D.C. utilizes this centralized, connected model of care. It functions as a virtual hospital, where physicians telemetrically monitor more than 100 pediatric patients from around the globe. Our team designed a Diagnostic Telemetric Command and Control System (DTCC) for the ground-breaking center, a technology that leverages artificial intelligence for predictive patient diagnosis and treatment and connects remote providers to the bedside team to provide specialized care.
What’s the frequency?
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is another growth technology in healthcare. The technology, a combination of a tracking tag and sensors, enables real-time tracking of medical equipment, medications, patients and staff, and is leading to better inventory management, reduced errors and enhanced time management for healthcare teams — big wins in a hospital setting. In healthcare, efficiency means more time spent with patients and less strain on staff.
Operationally, the data gathered from real-time location systems can be analyzed to identify trends and improve resource allocation and ultimately lead to improved workflows and better delivery of care.
Future-focused healthcare
When it comes to patient bed towers, our healthcare teams understand that care happens years after the design is complete. We’re always thinking ahead to deliver Future Ready® hospital facilities that remain relevant to their communities.
Future ready, importantly, also means development of a technology roadmap to include not only those items that can be immediately implemented but also prepared to support easy implementation of future items as time and budget allows.
For tomorrow’s healthcare spaces, we anticipate that the patient experience will start at home. From conveniences like reservable self-parking to personalized wayfinding maps through the hospital to accurate needs predication upon arrival, we’re working toward a future state of compassionate, connected hospital spaces.
For more information on trends in patient bed tower design, click here.
