Modern Emergency Department Design

The ed must have ready access to those critical care areas and diagnostic facilities necessary for modern emergency medicine to be practiced.

Modern emergency department design.

Emergency department designs that improve care efficiency. Patients often act unpredictability when stressed which can affect their safety as well as the safety and performance of staff. Michael remoll m d medical director of the ed at anne arundel medical center annapolis md. Design to protect patients.

Solutions to improve safety in an ed include the following. Each color represents the kind of medical supplies stored inside. Emergency department design to improve safety. Ed inpatient facilities.

Health building note 15 01. In response to the far reaching requirements of the affordable care act cutthroat competition from a flood of new healthcare providers and the demands of an increasingly discerning patient population hospital systems are reformulating their emergency departments into more welcoming more. The era of unbearably long waits in cramped impersonal emergency rooms may be drawing to a close. The ability to quickly and easily control access to an emergency department is a key security factor.

Eds used to be considered the back door to the hospital built without any thought toward patient flow and efficiency says c. Don pearce photography in the emergency department at f f. Thompson hospital in canandaigua n y architects with francis cauffman employed the latest innovations in evidence based design including color coded storage cabinets on wheels. At emergency departments where security is a critical issue it helps to have metal detectors and security stations at emergency department entrances.

Clinical areas which should be adjacent to the ed include. Standards for emergency department design and specification for ireland 2007 11 interface with other clinical areas. As president of huddy healthcare solutions llc a firm focused on the specialty of emergency department consulting and design he personally leads each emergency department engagement whether it be for emergency department strategic planning operational assessment master. Emergency departments are stressful environments for both patients and staff.

A practical guide to planning for the future this one of a kind resource written to explain the architectural design process to physicians and to motivate people to create a vision for the ed of the future is equally valuable to architects designers and construction professionals preparing to engage. Building a brand considering that eds across the united states receive more than 200 visits a minute the department has become a primary front door for health care. Beyond design strategies for efficiency and flow it is time to consider the role of emergency care within the health system and design the ed as a destination point.