New hospitals stress safety, technology, comfort

(This article originally appeared in Finance and Commerce, Minneapolis, MN., another Dolan Media publication).

One of Ellerbe Becket's recent design projects includes a healing room with a fireplace and comfortable furniture, large windows with impressive views of the city, a two-story glass atrium and feng shui design elements.

It's not an upscale condominium or luxury hotel. It's the Neuroscience/Orthopedic/Spine Patient Care Center of Abbott Northwestern's new $145 million Heart Hospital.

The 89,700-square-foot, 128-bed care center, which opened last spring, also includes a spirit room where stressed-out hospital workers can take a break, educational space for patients and their families, family areas in each room, therapy space, and other patient and staff amenities.

It's an example of one of the latest trends in health care design: aiming to make hospital stays less of an ordeal by creating comfortable, safe and efficient space that appeals to patients, families and hospital staff.

Jon Buggy, national director of health care for Minneapolis- based Ellerbe Becket, said today's generation expects more when it comes to hospital stays.

That's part of what's driving the current boom in hospital construction.

What many hospitals have right now is really old facilities, Buggy said. The last boom that happened in health care construction was in the '50s and '60s. We've all seen and experienced how bleak and awful [those facilities] can be.

That doesn't cut it anymore, particularly in a competitive health care environment.

As competition increases, and as patients become more sophisticated in choosing their health care providers, hospitals are expanding and building new facilities at a pace that hasn't been seen since the Eisenhower administration.

USA Today, citing information from the U.S. Census Bureau, recently reported that U.S. hospitals have spent $100 billion on new facilities in the past five years.

Technical offerings - including bedside Internet - are emphasized in many of the projects, according to the report.

Minnesota is certainly part of that mix, as seen in HealthEast's planned $70 million expansion and renovation at St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul, Minn.

We have basically outgrown the current facility, said Lynn Sadoff, senior public relations specialist for St. Joseph's. Our focus is on how to create a 21st century, state-of-the-art campus.

The design team for the St. Joseph's project includes BWBR Architects and HOK Architects.

Sadoff said St. Joseph's planned expansion and renovation - tentatively scheduled to begin in June - takes into account the things patients want, including a facility that's easy to navigate, an expanded parking area, conveniently located services and single- patient private rooms.

Private, single-patient rooms aid in healing and help to support the needs of confidentiality, Sadoff said. In this expansion plan, we will have 100 percent private rooms. Having that privacy, your own space, that's really important.

The patient rooms will be standardized - all of the bathrooms will be on the right side, for example - to make it easier for hospital staff to find things, Sadoff added. And bathrooms will be closer to the beds to reduce the chances of slipping and falling.

Indeed, one of the biggest issues in hospital projects is patient and staff safety, Buggy said.

Hospital-based infections are a particular concern. To minimize infections, he said, modern designs include conveniently located sinks to make it easier for care providers to wash hands between patient visits and building materials that resist mold growth.

Other safety-related design elements include grab bars to prevent falls in the bathrooms, bigger bathrooms, ceiling-mounted lift systems to help nursing staff move patients without undue strain and single-patient rooms, Buggy noted.

Technology also plays a big role in new hospital designs, with features ranging from bedside Internet access for patients to wall- mounted computers that allow hospital staff to immediately do their paperwork in the patient's room.

Buggy noted that hospitals are more likely to recruit and retain the best possible talent with staff-friendly technology and safety features, an important consideration because of the current shortage of nurses and mid-level care providers.

Special needs, such as bariatric care, also play a key role in hospital design.

Bariatric care - caring for obese patients - is a growing concern for hospitals that serve an increasingly heavy population.

The new neuroscience center at Abbott Northwestern, for example, includes extra-large bathrooms and lift systems that can handle up to 800 pounds.

That's a real niche topic, but it's one that we've discussed with every one of our health care clients, Buggy said.

The new wave of hospital construction hasn't been immune from criticism. Some critics complain that the new facilities cater to the most lucrative practices such as heart surgery, while driving up the overall cost of health care.

John Gillespie, manager of public relations for Fox Valley, Wis.- based ThedaCare, testified recently before a Wisconsin Senate committee on hospital construction and its impact on health care costs.

Gillespie, in a phone interview, said the biggest concern with new hospital construction is capacity, or instances where new hospitals are being built in communities that are well served by existing facilities.

If there's a need, it's appropriate to do it, Gillespie said. When you have overcapacity, the unit charge goes up, and by and large if everyone is doing the same service, their proficiencies and outcomes go down.

The Ritz-Carleton part is not the concern. If the market demand is there, the creature comforts, those become more incremental costs. It's no different than some people might prefer to shop at Byerly's, even if the costs are higher. People end up making value judgments.

Buggy believes it's too easy of a one-liner to blame rising health care costs on new construction.

Health care costs are growing, but hospitals are not interested in designing just Taj Mahals or places that look fabulous, he said. They are also very serious about, 'How do we make our operation run more efficiently so we can deliver quality care more effectively?'

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