The other day, I read a tweet from the estimable Matthew Holt in which he summarized what hospitals have been telling him. In short, they seem to want bigger, badder, newer facilities. In fact, if I recall correctly, they feel they’re in deep mud if they don’t get these upgrades and/or new facilities soon.
OK, usually I take such statements with a grain or two of salt. After all, who — in any industry — doesn’t want the latest and greatest, from the toys we squabble over on up into adulthood? But in this case, I think we should be taking Holt’s feedback quite seriously.
After all, despite the fact that I’m not an architect, hospital CEO, designer or any variation on same, I can immediately think of a few very important reasons for a massive buildout of hospitals to improve care and meet today’s process standards:
* Shared rooms are right out. There are already a fair number of hospitals (no stats to hand but this IS happening) who are converting all shared rooms to single rooms within their facility. Their main rationale is infection control, but I think they’re also hoping to streamline the care process by allowing nurses to think rationally, about one patient a time.
* Older physical plants are a huge liability. When you’ve got a house full of sick people, the last thing you want is a drip from that 20 year old pipe, asbestos to remediate, mold in ancient ducts and so on. While maintenance will be an issue for any facility, we’ve learned a lot since the first wave of current hospitals were built. Let’s get rid of ’em ASAP.
* If you’ve ever owned a house from the 70s (and I have) you know that they leak air conditioning and heat out at a ferocious rate. Sure, you can weatherstrip and insulate and hang curtains to seal out air from the windows, but eventually, it starts to cost so much that it’s a big waste. A new place — or hospital — is much cheaper over the long run.
* And while they’re at it, hospitals newly-designed hospitals can be planned with green energy usage in mind — a trick which might not work out in a clumsy plant from decades a ago. That not only helps to save the earth, it can save big bucks too. Again, I don’t have a case study handy but Google “green hospitals” and you’ll find some heartening stories.
* Oh, and I almost forgot…old hospitals can be a nightmare for techs to work around. Whether you’re talking about simply making sure Wi-Fi gets to every corner of the building or rolling out an EMR, nobody needs to live with design flaws from the 60s.
So, though I’m surprised to say it, it seems to me that bigger, better, faster hospitals are indeed what the doctor ordered. We’re not talking self-glorifying projects approved by boards to prove they’ve got the juice to make it happen, we’re talking simply about getting with the times. Let’s hope plenty of hospitals find the means to do so.
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