Hospital design experts Christina Grimes and Ryan Hullinger explain how technology — from telehealth to avatars — is being incorporated into healthcare environments.
The Covid-19 pandemic ushered in a mass adoption of technology, with platforms like Zoom being embraced overnight, and social media and streaming services experiencing a boom in users. Telemedicine peaked as a means to reduce the spread of disease and allow people to receive non-emergency care, with 37% of adults reporting the use of telehealth services in 2021. Though this spike has lowered due to the reopening of facilities, the convenience of telehealth for both patients and providers means it’s here to stay.
In addition to telemedicine, smart, integrated in-room technology, mobile apps, embedded interactive technologies and artificial intelligence have enormous implications not only for how care is provided but also for the design of hospitals and clinics. Here, we discuss three ways technology is improving patient outcomes and influencing healthcare design, and how to incorporate it, whether on a large or small scale, into the care environment.
A More Comforting Patient Experience
Some of life’s most emotional moments take place in hospitals and healthcare spaces—the birth of a child, a life-changing diagnosis, or the death of a loved one. It’s no wonder these environments can often feel stressful or provoke anxiety. However, new technologies are infusing hospitals and clinics with interactive art, biophilia (connections to nature), and other stress reducers to provide a calmer and more healing patient experience.
As digital natives, children and adolescents have grown up interacting with screens and online characters, a dynamic we are working to embed within the children’s hospital experience. At Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital in California, the hospital worked with experiential design firm ESI Design to create large interactive screens planned for installation in the entry lobby that allow pediatric patients to design a custom animal avatar that will follow them throughout their patient journey, providing comfort and easing anxiety. Animals inhabit a fictional forest that features lifelike flowers, trees, and grass, and evokes the stress reducing benefits of nature (a phenomenon that applies even when the natural environment is simulated).
Solutions like this one can also be integrated into the patient registration process through the hospital’s website or mobile app, facilitating a feeling of connection and ease before patients even arrive at the hospital. In patient rooms, integrated FaceTime or video chat capabilities can combat feelings of isolation by providing the ability to talk with family, play video games or stream entertainment with friends, or even attend school virtually.
Better Staff Satisfaction
On the staff side, technology can help boost retention and satisfaction by enabling more flexibility. For specialists, telehealth allows a provider to be at a clinic in one location in the morning, then at home or in another location on-screen in the afternoon, giving more control over schedule and environment to physicians and making time they spend with patients more effective.
Technology can also enable jobs that were previously only performed in person to be done remotely. For example, if a healthcare organization decides to implement a decentralized tele-intensive care unit (ICU), where one or more physicians has access to the patient from multiple sites, the person monitoring that ICU can be stationed remotely in office space that has become more affordable—and available—post-pandemic.
Telehealth and the Design of Healthcare Environments
What does the increased adoption of telehealth mean for space requirements in hospitals and clinics? If a specialist can remote in from wherever they are located, are fewer rooms required to see patients? Or is more space needed to accommodate new equipment? Depending on the circumstances, both scenarios can be true.
One way technology impacts the design of care environments is through considerations around square footage, currently governed by the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI). Current guidelines for teledata rooms stipulate a minimum square footage and clearance around each equipment rack. This means that the room becomes incrementally larger with every piece of equipment added. As rooms grow, floorplates increase, and the overall support space in a hospital building changes in proportion to the number of rooms it’s serving.
In the inpatient room, “smart hospital” advancements allow for greater technology integration. Environmental controls that detect when a patient gets out of bed can send an alert to caregivers and turn on lights to guide patients and staff. Or, if an ICU patient begins to crash, this same smart technology can automatically alert the response team, turn up the lights to maximize visibility in the room, prioritize the elevator access to that floor, and notify the surgical team.
Lastly, technology can also impact not only the building’s design, but the design process itself. When architects are comparing two different floor layout options, they can now run simulations that automatically test various options—for example, travel distance for nurses to maximize time with patients—making designers smarter in the way we plan and execute hospitals and clinics.
There’s no doubt that technology contributes enormously to patient care and treatment. But questions around privacy and level of comfort with remote care can create challenges. Technology can also present both ends of this spectrum at different times. On the patient side, some are completely comfortable with receiving care or diagnosis through a screen, while others prefer and often require a hands-on examination. On the staff side, some believe it’s more effective to see their patients virtually, while others prefer in-person visits. Technology is also a major expense and requires maintenance and replacement as upgrades are made or guidelines change.
To successfully implement technology—and the right type of technology—whether that’s telemedicine, smart room features, remote monitoring, or even AI, it’s important to take stock of return on investment. What’s realistic now? Where are things headed in 5, 10, or even 20 years? This type of analysis can help pinpoint what type of technology adoption your organization—and patients—will benefit from the most.
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