Facility Planning Part I

Designing a facility and the departments contained within it is a daunting task in the beginning. Research and planning are key steps that must be well thought out and executed for the most return on the space. Space is a high premium for hospital organizations that are looking to expand their impact on the community they serve. Whether the organization is looking to refurbish an existing space, build new construction, or possibly a combination of the two, proper skill and understanding of space design is essential to utilizing the available resources and financing. Description of the facility

This student chose to do a family care clinic that is attached to a hospital. The clinic is located off the main atrium of the hospital in the attached medical office building. The floor plan is designed to hide the chaos of traditional medical office medical assistant (MA) stations where physicians and staff gather to coordinate patient care. Having the family care clinic attached to the main hospital through the atrium gives the hospital more direct options to refer patients directly to their own clinic.

Focusing on the patient experience is vital to the facility design. Removing the visual and audio clutter that patients walk through during their visit will help increase patient satisfaction. Health and wellness is on an upward trend in health care. Creating a calming and proactive environment will help the patient continue to seek health care. When patients have a calming entrance to their health care providers office it sets the tone for the entire visit. Reducing the clutter of registration and paperwork will increase patient satisfaction and hopefully reduce the
confusion in the check-in process.

Educating patients about their health care and how they are instrumental to the final outcome is difficult. Creating learning environments for patients to interact in and to learn in is a key aspect to health and wellbeing. Educational classes regarding healthy cooking and food choices is a program that can be offered to help patients understand what they are outing into their bodies directly effects them. Exercises classes and group support to continue exercising is another program that will benefit the community the hospital serves. Need for renovation

The hospital that the clinic is attached to is opening a brand new facility and has decided to expand their community support by opening a family medicine clinic that will utilize the hospital resources. The community is a wide range of working classes, low income, poor, and rural families that must travel some distance to reach health care providers. Attracting patients that need primary care and continued health care will drive referrals to the ancillary departments in the hospital. This increases revenue for the hospital. Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the population of people with access to health care insurance has increased by millions. Medicaid expansion has increased access to health care services for millions but the amount of physicians that accept Medicaid as payment has not increased to cover the increase in patients. Population

The population of patients that will be served will primarily be patients with Medicare and Medicaid, although many insurance are accepted. The rising population of elderly will drive long-term care and palliative care. Obstetrics and gynecology services are needed for the population of young mothers, growing families, and women needing regular care. The re-directed patients from the emergency department will receive care like an urgent care. This re-directed patient will need to establish care with a primary care physician (PCP) therefore providing dual purposes, creating continued care for the patient and increasing the clinic’s patient load. URL of your design

http://partner.homestyler.com/partner/toolwire/designprofile/8d7e470e-653f-43f2-9268-d596291357af

Conclusion
Facility planning is a crucial component in expanding a health care organization. Using existing space to the fullest extent gives the organization a better idea that growth is necessary. Planning on how to expand or restructure space requires understanding of what the organization wants to achieve to support the community. Knowing the organizations future goals and growth expectations will assist the planning process. .