With the growing demand for specialty health care treatment, it’s no wonder that many hospitals and clinics are adding new workspaces to their existing facilities. Adding a wing for cardiac care, pediatric procedures or physical rehabilitation equipment can expand your company’s ability to serve the community and its bottom line.
Before you jump feet first into the challenges that come with health care construction, make sure your new workspace is valuable on its own while still fitting into the larger building design.
See Healthcare Buildings as a Workplace
While hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices are definitely service-orientated spaces, they’re also employee work spaces for the doctors and nurses who staff them. Don’t forget to consider how the design and layout of the new addition will affect your team’s ability to take care of their patients.
Start by considering the flow through the space so that employees can get to the most crucial areas with as few obstacles as possible. When you’re building a space from scratch instead of working with an existing structure, there’s no excuse for putting a patient check-in area right in the middle of a corridor leading from an examination room to the rest of the facility.
Aside from flow, consider how your employees will be able to collaborate and communicate as a team. Even if your new workspace is just part of a larger clinic or hospital, you need at least a small conference room in each workspace so employees have a private place to discuss important issues before dealing with patients.
Forcing doctors and nurses to hold whispered conversations in a hallway or back office makes it very difficult for everyone sharing the workspace to stay on one page.
Working for the Patient
The finest health care workplace is worth very little to your company if it doesn’t serve the patients that are your customers. Aside from the essentials for actual treatments and procedures, consider how you can make the space more accommodating and useful to visitors.
For example, adding extra and easily accessible power outlets in the waiting rooms allows patients to recharge and use their technological devices. It might sound like a small and insignificant change in design, but to your patients, it could make the difference between falling behind at work and getting essential tasks done while waiting for an appointment.
Finally, don’t forget about the basics of any good workplace. Work in as much natural light as possible, and design computer and medication stations for ergonomics. It’s easier to design a workplace right from the beginning rather than trying to renovate it later after your team discovers what’s not working for them.
Still not sure how you want to design your new health care workplace? Call us today to talk with an experienced contractor who can help you choose what’s most important for your project.
Recent Comments