Collaborating for a New Type of ED Space

Credits: None available.

This presentation focuses on the growing interest in the low-acuity patient pod concept and the challenges of getting an idea into the marketplace and the Guidelines. The presenters highlight the collaboration between an owner, design firms, and FGI to catalyze change. Currently, EDs treat low-acuity patients in noncompliant smaller spaces, often co-located with others and without privacy, staff oversight, or sufficient hand-washing stations. AHJs have no source to regulate minimum requirements, and these spaces have no reference in the Guidelines.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Describe how these entities came together to champion new minimum requirements for an emergency department treatment space specific to low-acuity patients.

2.) Discuss the appropriate patient types and the minimum space and support requirements necessary for provision of care in an ED low-acuity patient treatment station.

3.) Determine the criteria for right-sizing treatment spaces in an ED by reviewing the results of the low-acuity pod charette conducted in 2017.

4.)  Evaluate technologies available for deployment in treatment pods and how they can be used to deliver care without sacrificing patient safety, comfort, or privacy.


Controlling Operating Room Relative Humidity with Liquid Desiccant Dehumidification Technology

Credits: None available.

This session presents the issue of maintaining the required relative humidity (RH) level within an OR setting in an academic health sciences center with a 734-bed acute care hospital. Problematic RH levels and methods of dealing with and solving the RH control levels will be discussed. Attendees will learn how the application of liquid desiccant dehumidification technology resolved the unacceptable RH levels within the OR suites.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Identify the acceptable relative humidity (RH) level within an operating room (OR).

2.) Explain the inability of conventional HVAC systems to maintain OR RH level.

3.) Explain how liquid desiccant dehumidification controls RH level in the OR.

4.) Discover how to apply liquid desiccant dehumidification to an existing HVAC system.


Tackling Staff Opt Out and Burnout: Radical Work Space Antidotes

Credits: None available.

Health care work spaces have undergone radical change, yet have not evolved to support new models of care that rely on education, multi-disciplinary teamwork, and a collaborative process. The resulting friction between process and environment has led staff to opt out of using space while battling burnout in spaces that offer no support or respite. This session shares research on day-to-day pressures of care providers. Learn new approaches to work space implemented in inpatient and ambulatory projects and the lessons learned.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Identify the relevant work space influences from outside of health care that can improve work and education in health care.

2.) Discover the correlation between improved work space and patient satisfaction and care outcomes.

3.) Address current burnout and retention issues with new workplace strategies.

4.) Implement “right spacing” strategies based on real world needs for improved education and collaboration.


Facility Activation: A Coordinated Approach to Occupying a New Health Care Facility

Credits: None available.

Two services are often overlooked when completing a new project: transition planning – the “why and how” – and move management – the “what and when.” Together, they are Facility Activation. Health care organizations make significant capital investment in new facilities and desire a rapid return on that investment. Developing a Facility Activation plan ensures that old habits are not transferred to new spaces. This session shares insights on how Facility Activation can help move from occupying a new space to optimizing its performance.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Explain how to engage stakeholders to ensure successful Facility Activation.

2.) Identify the timeline for implementing Facility Activation plan.

3.) Review executive dashboard communication tools.

4.) Gain insights from Facility Activation and it they improved new facility operations.


Load Calculations: Changes and Implications for Health Care

Credits: None available.

The National Electrical Code® is one of the most fundamental documents in the planning, design, and construction of facilities. Its load calculation procedures have changed very little over the decades. This cycle, however, both ASHE and the NEC committee have made significant strides to update and improve these requirements, with results that will likely reduce the size of electrical system components and reduce system costs. This session will help attendees know what's coming and provide needed input into the process.

Learning Objectives:

1.) List the NEC demand factors as they currently apply to health care facilities.

2.) Explain the analysis and resulting proposals regarding lighting system demand factors.

3.) Explain the analysis and resulting proposals regarding plug loads and cord-connected equipment.

4.) Participate in a conversation with panel members about their questions and thereby provide input into the NEC process.


Armand Burgun Fellowship Presentations

Credits: None available.

This session is a panel presentation of the 3 Armand Burgun Fellowship recipients who will present their respective studies & the lessons coming from them. Bill Eide, Texas A&M, Phase 2 of Burgun 2017-18 Fellowship Most Common Healthcare Design Review Deficiencies.

Hui Cai, University of Kansas, To Validate Facility Guidelines for Critical Access Hospitals (CAH): A Collaborative Benchmarking Post-Occupancy Evaluation Study on CAHs.

Christopher Kiss, Clemson University, The Influence of Windows on Surgeons' Stress

Learning Objectives:

1.) Information and mitigations on the most common healthcare design review deficiencies.

2.) Facility Guideline recommendations on Critical Access Hospitals.

3.) Benchmarking and key outcomes of Post Occupancy Evaluation of Critical Access Hospitals.

4.) Factors in determining stress in surgical staff, and impacts of windows and views to daylight.


Engineered Infection Prevention: The Intelligent Self-Disinfecting Hospital

Credits: None available.

Health care-associated infections afflict 1.7 million patients each year in the United States and are a leading cause of death. Up to 80 percent of HAIs may result from microbial transmission through the physical environment: air, water, and surfaces. Engineered infection prevention includes automated technology and materials designed into infrastructure to eliminate microbial transmission. EIP can be a disruptive game-changer. This presentation provides an update on EIP research, technologies, implementation, and standards and knowledge and resources to support EIP design.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Identify opportunities and challenges to design with EIP in new projects and in existing facilities.

2.) Assess the value of adding EIP to health care facilities.

3.) Specify EIP materials and technologies for future projects.

4.) Prioritize EIP interventions based on clinical impact and cost effectiveness.


NYU Kimmel Pavilion: Integration of Infection Prevention & Design

Credits: None available.

This session focuses on the NYU Langone Health Kimmel Pavilion and how infection prevention and facilities/engineering played a role in the design of the layout, circulation, infrastructure, and finishes. Priorities were set early on establishing infection prevention as s primary consideration for planning and design decisions. This direction and commitment allowed the design team to develop a full building approach to infection prevention. Attendees will gain insight into the multi-disciplinary approach through diagrams, floor plans, photographs, and post-occupancy evaluation material.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Discover how NYU Langone Health established infection prevention as a priority in the design of its new building.

2.) Describe the systems approach taken in the design of a new inpatient and surgical tower with infection prevention as a primary focus.

3.) Identify the planning, adjacencies, circulation, and flows within the building.

4.) Establish a new base minimum for infection prevention within a new facility.


Design Insights for Geriatric-Friendly EDs

Credits: None available.

Providing safe, efficient care for the specialized needs of geriatric patients in the emergency department holds unique challenges, and this session will provide recommendations on how to design examination rooms that are geriatric friendly. A checklist will be provided that will facilitate a quick evaluation of patient care locations in new construction or existing emergency rooms and freestanding emergency facilities to gauge how geriatric friendly they are.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Assess design challenges facing older adults seeking health care services in the emergency department.

2.) Explain why the design of emergency room examination and treatment spaces should focus on the physical environment and incorporate the equipment required for older adults’ specific needs.

3.) Identify the stakeholders that will need to collaborate to bring about changes—both operational and physical—to improve geriatric patient care and comfort in ED spaces.

4.) Apply a checklist tool to evaluate the physical elements and conditions in emergency department spaces and determine design changes that will better serve the needs of geriatric patients.


Neighborhood Hospitals 2.0: What’s Changed from a Regulatory and Planning Perspective

Credits: None available.

Traditional destination bricks and mortar campuses no longer represent a successful strategy for health care, and micro-hospitals have become popular as a market growth and value strategy. Neighborhood hospitals require a clear strategy, a sound operational model, and clinical support to be successful; however, the potential for a significant impact on changing economics and clinical delivery of health care is exciting. This session will share experiences planning neighborhood hospitals, discuss key operational areas, and illustrate clinical innovations that would support this model.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Recognize the drive behind and the technical requirements of the Florida emergency power rule and how they may propagate to other states.

2.) Identify site design challenges based on local and state codes in conjunction with the rule.

3.) List the three primary solution options for the cooling rule based on whole-house, cooling load only, and "lifeboat" solutions.

4.) Recognize how a collaborative approach with the owner, designer, installer, and equipment supplier provided a more robust and flexible system to the owner.