More hospitals including patient safety in design
More hospitals including patient safety in design
More risk managers are getting involved in the effort to design safer health care facilities, says Anjali Joseph, PhD, director of research for The Center for Health Design in Concord, CA, a group that provides support for patient safety design efforts.
"Some of the ideas that make a difference are familiar to risk managers and only need to be incorporated into the design when there is the opportunity," Joseph says. "The idea of standardizing rooms, for instance, is not a radical idea. Risk managers will know that familiarization with equipment and its location can help reduce errors, but this idea needs to be included in the design stages."
The center offers support for patient safety design through its "Pebble Project" in which it disseminates information and advice through individual hospitals that then can spread that knowledge further, like a pebble making waves in water. (For more information, go to the center's web site at www.healthdesign.org. Under "research," select "Pebble Project.")
Traditionally, architects and facility managers have designed health care facilities in much the same way that any other building is designed, Joseph says, which means there was no particular focus on standardization or other patient safety issues. Cost issues or aesthetic concerns often dictated design choices such as the type of flooring used, but Joseph suggests that risk managers can point out the overlooked factors. A safer, nonslip flooring material, for example, may end up being much more cost-effective than the cheaper alternative if it reduces the costs of slip and fall injuries.
"Risk managers have a perspective that others cannot see sometimes," she says. "I would recommend that the risk manager take an active role in the design process and take this opportunity to be proactive in improving patient safety."
Source
For more information, contact:
- Anjali Joseph, PhD, Director of Research, The Center for Health Design, 1850 Gateway Blvd., Suite 1083, Concord, CA 94520. Telephone: (925) 521-9404. E-mail: [email protected].
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