The Impacts of Medical Patient Room Design on Recovery
When a patient is confined to a room due to illness, injury, or surgery, the medical patient room design can drastically impact the healing process. Thankfully for the patient population, medical facility design firms are making strides in considering these impacts and incorporating patient health into medical patient room design. Intelligent room design is a newer concept, as healthcare facilities were previously constructed to suit the needs of caregivers rather than those of the patient, and physical surroundings weren’t considered an integral part of the healing process.
Today, there is a heightened awareness of how patient room design impacts recovery, and it’s affecting how the healthcare industry is looking at designing and constructing medical care facilities. With a greater focus on providing a healing atmosphere for patients, facilities are moving toward more single-patient rooms, reducing noise and overhead announcements, installing sound absorbing floor and ceiling materials, and increasing exposure to natural light and surroundings for their patients in recovery.
With benefits such as reducing patient stays, improving overall patient mood, and reducing the use of pain killers, the choice to increase natural lighting, offer outside views, and provide soothing art installations are well worth incorporating into the medical patient room design of a modern day healthcare facility. Design firms are focusing on accommodating both the business of healthcare and the need for quality patient care in a medical environment. Many patient care rooms today seem to replicate those of hotel rooms, as opposed to offering their residents institutionally dull aesthetics, poor lighting, and windowless walls. As a result, patients of all ages – from neonatal intensive care patients to the elderly – are realizing the manifold benefits of private rooms and suites that are clean, quiet, and geared toward the specific needs of the patients who inhabit them.
Along with a new perspective of how patient room design impacts recovery is an increased understanding of how these facility design improvements better accommodate patient visitors and family members. Studies have shown that private rooms reduce patient stress, enable better quality sleep, increase the privacy and feelings of dignity for the patient, assist with inner healing and peace of mind, and speed up recovery times in general. Family members who visit or spend the night are also more comfortable and relaxed and experience less worry and stress over their loved ones’ recovery. The overarching idea is to create a more home-like environment to instill confidence among patients and their families.
Contact the medical facility construction team at Apex Design Build to learn more about medical patient room design and how patient room design impacts recovery. With a background of over 70 years in healthcare architecture, design, construction, and finishing services, we’re proud to be part of today’s exciting advancements in medical facility design. We’re here to help you create or redesign your medical facility into your vision of the perfect practice.
Improving Patient Experience with Technology
Improving patient experience through the use of technology is a key way to develop and strengthen your practice’s brand. Patients are shopping for their healthcare providers more than ever before, and implementing technology through the more routine aspects of patient care can help you stand out.
Incorporating features and programs like notification reminders, patient portals, home exercise programs, and telemedicine can drastically improve patient experience. Let’s take a look at some of the ways these technologies can benefit your practice.
4 Technologies for Improving Patient Experience
Notification Reminders
While paper reminder cards may add a nice branding touch, they often end up lost or go through the laundry. Very few people are able to save them in a way that will be helpful when the time comes around for your appointment. Their usefulness is limited in scope, especially when the next appointment may be as much as 6 months in the future.
Automated notification reminders through text, voicemail or email have a much higher success rate. You can give patients the choice of how they want to be reached, and your reminders will become much more useful.
Patient Portals
When a patient calls, they expect a timely response. Nurses and doctors are busy people and it’s not always easy to return patient phone calls. When patients utilize a secure patient portal, communication is simplified.
Patients can easily have their questions answered or gain access to HIPAA-sensitive medical records. When the administrative process becomes more fluid it reflects your practice in a positive light, improving the patient experience.
Home Exercise Programs
Home exercises become part of balanced care for so many medical ailments. When proper exercise techniques are communicated through paper brochures or packets, they are easily lost. Computer-based home exercise programs offer patients a more dependable, easier way to learn the necessary exercises.
Home exercise programs can also reduce the number of patient phone calls, asking for a refresher on the exercises and techniques. The easier it is for patients to access their exercise program, the likelier they are to keep current.
Telemedicine
While there are certainly considerations to make before implementing telemedicine inside your practice, it can drastically improve patient experience. When doctors can diagnose using video conferencing technology, it eliminates the need for an in-office appointment.
The time-saving and cost-saving elements of telemedicine are evident. Several states are looking at ways they can make it easier for doctors to practice telemedicine. While it can be a way to cut down on the number of appointments for uncomplicated routine issues, there are certainly cases where in-office care will remain necessary.
Conclusion
Implementing technology can go a long way in modernizing your practice and improving the patient experience. In many cases it can create the differentiation point that will keep patients returning for years to come.
When you implement basic technologies throughout every aspect of your office, you are creating a unique experience and establishing a stronger bond with your patients.
Moving Forward: Modern Medical Office Construction
Medical office construction has changed a lot since we first founded Apex Design Build. As such, modern medical office construction practices are ripe with unique innovations that just wouldn’t have been possible decades ago. Current changes in labor, workflow, design, and culture have all changed the way we think about medical office construction. These new shifts in the status quo have challenged the ways in which we develop, design, and manage healthcare facilities. For example, hospitals now employ more than half of all doctors and surgeons, with numbers continuing to increase. Architects and providers, as well as developers, have had to alter their way of thinking to support the multispecialty of contemporary hospitals and medical offices. Equally, modern medical office construction reflects these changes. In this article, we look at the many innovations modern medical office construction has brought about.
Integrated Technologies for Your Medical Office
Modern medical offices have come to rely on a collaborative care system, with patient-centered medical homes, among other things. Namely, practical technological integrations, which can make patient experience better and physicians’ jobs more efficient. Technologies like desktop computer systems, electronic medical records, wireless networking, are all great examples. In fact, we believe multispecialty medical office buildings require design that optimizes technology for employees while supporting patient needs. Your medical office should have the best of both worlds, if not all of them.
When drawing up your medical office construction plans, we will take into account the features you require, while offering suggestions for additional facilities you may find useful. Similarly, materials, windows, walls, these things are all important but should be selected carefully. Like any integrated technologies, they should enhance the connectivity and functionality of your medical office, not hinder them.
Ease of Motion and Modularity
Your medical office is its own organism, each piece relying on and supporting others to function properly. If one piece fails, it can compromise the entire system. For your medical office, we at Apex Design Build always ensure that modularity and mobility are essential components for your workspace. When planning and constructing the building or office, we find that the best current medical offices have multifunctional exam rooms. Instead of limiting your workspaces to just one specific function, why not make them suitable for multiple uses? This can aid efficiency as well as patient experience in your office. Furthermore, your furnishings should also direct patient traffic with ease.
Think about how you place your furniture, how corridors flow. Is there only one path leading back to the waiting room for both in-patients and out-patients? Or do you require a one-way traffic system that guides patients back to reception while avoiding cramped hallways? Your equipment can also help with ease of motion, such as having certain pieces on wheels, which facilitates and encourages movement.
Green Construction for Your Medical Office
Most Contemporary Medical Office Construction involves some aspect of greenness. At Apex, we source the best materials for your needs that are also safe for the planet. Using green principles of construction, we also aim to save you time and effort, while delivering your custom medical office. Moreover, green construction practices and materials for your medical office will minimize your carbon footprint.
At Apex Design Build, we are always on the lookout for ways to break the mold. We make it our mission to innovate and improve standard medical office construction. We use cutting-edge green construction techniques in our work, with the aim of creating your perfect medical office. At Apex, we are leading the medical office construction and design revolution. Contact us now so that you can join us.
