A Patient-Centered Design Approach to Facility Planning

Abstract: Due to the physical, mental and social tolls diagnosis and treatment imparts, patients undergoing cancer care find the experience incredibly taxing. Treatments range in duration from weeks to months, and involve lab tests, possibly surgery, infusions and recovery time. A medical center in the Veterans Affairs healthcare system wanted to both relocate and redesign their Hematology/Oncology clinic and infusion suite to better accommodate the needs of their patients during the difficult treatment phase. Stakeholders had three guiding questions for the redesign team to address: what are the state-of-the-art concepts in patient-centered cancer care facilities, which of those concepts should the medical center incorporate, and what trade-offs are associated with design alternatives? The process of Preparation – Incubation – Illumination – Verification was used to develop a concept design for a care delivery system and an associated floor plan. This process involved stakeholder meetings, collaborative rapid paper prototyping sessions, site visits to other facilities, and simulation of suggested traffic flows and floor plans. Design highlights include patient-centric features such as hoteling of exam rooms and infusion bays with windows to the outside. It incorporates the idea of critical adjacencies by locating cancer care services in the same area. Since moving the lab was not possible, exchanging lab materials are facilitated by a pneumatic tube system. Finally, patients are able to choose the level of privacy they desire, with three types of infusion bays available. This process demonstrated the value of a rigorous and comprehensive approach to facility design, taking into consideration patient comfort and treatment efficiency.

Keywords: Patient-Centered, Human-Centered, Veteran-Centered, Facility Design, Simulation, Cancer Care

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100540

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