Humanization And Quality Of Hospital Environments

The trends in relation to the planning, design and equipment of the entities that offer health services at this time focus on several aspects to be able to cover the different variables that protect the needs of the moment.

Current trends should be based on at least 8 topics:

  1. Creation of curative environments
  2. Evidence-based design
  3. Construction sustainability
  4. Quality certifications
  5. Patient safety
  6. Infection control
  7. Incorporation of technologies
  8. Communication

The creation of healing environments refers to the interaction of the five senses with the environment. Senses that allow knowing and enjoying, therefore they are potential to heal, work, feel pleasure and communicate.

Several authors highlight the importance of architectural design, natural light, exterior views, privacy, lighting control, colours, cleanliness, climate, sounds (noises), accessibility and ease of communication, clear signage, the construction materials, finishes and furniture are essential to achieve a welcoming and pleasant environment for patients and healthcare personnel.

A very expensive hospital building does not necessarily mean that it is of good quality, it can have many undesirable characteristics such as improper operation of the proximity relationships between departments, very small spaces, insufficient sound insulation between the offices, etc.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

In the design of hospital environments, in addition to meeting the spatial and functional requirements, it is important to consider some basic criteria that contribute to the humanization of these environments, such as security and privacy. And this is why, it is of utmost important to contact healthcare architecture firms in India before building your medical center or hospital.

Safety: The physical environment should try to safeguard the personal sensitivity and human dignity of patients and their families, try to lessen their anxieties and concerns, especially in those cases where patients and their families are going through difficult times, such as: waiting for the results of a surgery, an emergency, intensive therapy, or a crucial diagnosis.

This can be considered when selecting finishes, taking into account that there is no need to create all aseptic environments giving priority to maintenance, reflective surfaces are not desirable.

Security can be provided by providing a warm non-institutional environment, in order to reduce fear, and increase the confidence and self-esteem of the users.

Privacy: it is a primary consideration in the design of environments conducive to the practice of Medicine. This sensation is crucial for patients receiving a certain type of treatment, such as cancer patients, which frequently manifest feelings of depression, anxiety, fear of being discriminated against, rejection, etc.

The physical environment and the size of the spaces should provide adequate levels of privacy. While waiting in critical areas, personalized spaces are necessary where families can wait together with a minimum of contact with other patients, but it is also convenient to have spaces that suggest a certain sociability and stimulate personal contact since some patients and families feel considerable support by sharing your concerns with others who are experiencing the same situation.

According to hospital project consultants in India, in the internal areas of the emergency or first aid department, it is convenient to visually and acoustically separate the pediatrics areas from those for adults, women from men, critical patients from chronic patients, in order to lessen the impressions that may psychologically disturb the patients and their families, and prevent their recovery, reassurance and progress.

What Do You Have To Know To Design A Hospital?

Gone are the days of sterile spaces, shared rooms, and buildings that could be mistaken for corporate offices. We are seeing a new class of hospitals, more like hotels thanks to their private rooms, gardens, and art installations by healthcare architecture firms in India.

During a hospital construction process, doctors usually do not sit with the architects specialized in health and the engineers for the design of the same, which is a practice that has to disappear, since multidisciplinary work is considered important for a better design.

Design A Hospital

There are environments that make people sick and that require a person to adapt and for that reason the gap between what we have and what we want in the hospitals.

In this sense, by carrying out the functional plan with the help of hospital project consultants in India, the range of service to be provided is obtained, structuring the planning of sanitary activities, with which it is expected that maximum efficiency will be obtained from it.

A functional plan will give the operating parameters of each of the units and processes within the hospital, it is important that within this plan, the direction that the hospital will take in the future is contemplated, so that the remodeling or extensions are also organized.

So that in this way it can be seen where the health services will be focused in the next 20 years, because the way of working and doing things is changing.

A functional plan should not be interpreted as a definitive and stable scenario, since only the presence of technology generates relevant modifications in the way things are done. What different experts indicate are the following steps:

i) Environment and population analysis.

Among the aspects that must be considered is the analysis of the environment, identifying the urban structure in which it is located and the road infrastructure.

On the other hand, population studies must be carried out in which the aging rate, rate of mortality, fertility by age groups. Etc. All this, to know the type of user that can be expected in that area.

ii) Hospital model.

Once the type of population is expected to visit, due to socio-demographic conditions, the service plan and specialties that the hospital will have can be generated.

In this, the distribution of the number of beds per clinical area and the areas: outpatient consultation, diagnostic and treatment areas, emergencies, and surgery, among others can be determined.

iii) Surface program.

Since the type of population and the services that will be provided are known, the logistical and architectural design of each of the units that will make up the hospital building is necessary, for example: functional units, outpatient services, central services, obstetric block, surgery, classrooms, library and auditorium.

In summary, as you can see, it is necessary to take a tour that contemplates the historical background of the place, the socio-demographic conditions, the development of a service scheme, an analysis of the hospital’s competence, uniting the aesthetic and functional part, to let our final step be the development of the hospital design.

Importance of Hospital Architecture and Design

One of the most important buildings that you can find in a certain place is a hospital.

These centers are the place where patients suffering from a disease are healed and for this reason, the way in which it is built is of great importance.

healthcare-architecture-firms-in-india

They are places that have a series of places such as corridors, waiting rooms, laboratories, surgery rooms, and other places where health is taken care of.

Before trying to build a hospital center, it is essential to have an appropriate plan that dictates the steps to follow regarding the architecture of the place.

Hospital architecture

There are a number of important aspects that healthcare architecture firms in India must take into account when designing a hospital.

The role of a healthcare management consulting in India, as those who specialize in the construction of healthcare facilities are commonly known, must have the proven and necessary experience to begin designing the architecture of the hospital.

Regarding architecture, it is necessary to take into account the circulation, in other words, the flow and movement that patients, visitors, doctors, technicians, nurses will have every day, both inside and outside the building.

The location of the spaces for the different departments and the interconnection that exists between them is of utmost importance; Properly designed it can reduce unnecessary movement and stress for everyone.

Experts of hospital consultancy services in Delhi must ensure adequate transition space for staff and patients, and design appropriate treatment areas for equipment and services.

The necessary importance should be given to a series of aspects related to acoustics, privacy, security, hygiene, etc., in addition to services such as ventilation, air conditioning, medical gas networks, lighting and sanitation.

Objective of a good architecture

The main objective that architecture should have is to create a work system that focuses on the patient, focused on architecture, offering an environment of safety, cleanliness and physical comfort.

Energy conservation must be planned and executed, and some of the measures for this include the use of high-efficiency light sources, natural lighting, effective ventilation, easy maintenance, and energy recycling.

Hospital project consultants in India have to keep pace with the advances of modern medicine, nursing techniques and customer expectations of the community.

Evidence-based design

Because hospitals are expensive to build and operate, it is vitally important to use the abundant empirical evidence available to guide design.

Evidence-based design works in concert with the imagination, creativity and judgment of architects and designers, providing empirical data on the design elements that actually work.

Some important aspects that must be taken into account are:

  1. Audio environment, including ceiling, walls, and noise.
  2. Visual environment, such as natural light and views of nature.
  3. Safety, which includes air quality and ventilation.
  4. Signage, floor plans and the information desk.
  5. Sustainability, energy saving, waste management and construction materials.
  6. Patient rooms, light and temperature control.
  7. Support spaces for the family.
  8. Support spaces for staff, such as decentralized nursing workstations, proximity of supplies and medications, and comfortable rest areas.
  9. Support spaces for doctors, such as the quality of meeting rooms, the acoustics of operating rooms and the quality and location of workstations.

How Can The Architecture Of Hospitals Influence The Lives Of Patients?

The structure and architecture of a healthcare center can improve the lives of patients. The new conception of medical care facilities runs away from monotonous spaces, betting on the interpretation of color and light. In this way, the spaces influence the mood and the own perception of the body of the patients, in fact, it can help people to recover faster.

hospital-project-consultants-in-india

In the past, the design of these facilities focused more on supporting the patient care team than the patient itself. Many of the decisions made in the design, execution and commissioning phase conditioned the greater efficiency of the services in the different areas of the hospital. These buildings, in addition to being beautiful and powerful examples of architecture designed for people, are functional edifices.

Hospital architecture has undergone a change in its functional approach and the hospital is conceived as a sum of spaces that tries to transmit healthy experiences, rather than as a health container space. The objective of hospital consultancy in India is to improve the internal processes in which different areas of the hospital participate in a way that results in their greater efficiency and improved quality services.

In this sense, top healthcare consulting firms in India along with hospital designers convene strategic workshop in which attractive ideas are investigated on how to integrate multidisciplinary co-creation spaces in the future hospital. It is important to achieve a perfect match between the technical and organizational aspects and bear in mind that each function requires its own space.

The integration of patients, health and non-health personnel in a flexible building that combines landscape, natural light, renewable energy and the latest technologies are the peculiarities of XXI century hospital project consultants in India.

Savings and Energy Efficiency

The importance of building energy-efficient hospitals by introducing efficiency indicators, together with those of quality and adequacy, generate differential value. The variables that affect the energy consumption of a hospital are those that share an optimal consumption value, which allows reducing costs, contributing to better economic management of the hospital center and greater care for the environment.

Hospital management consulting company considers Integrated Building Design, a process that integrates people, business structures and procedures from the pre-design phase to the operation and maintenance of the building, which helps to achieve greater operational reliability, reduce maintenance costs and improve the energy efficiency of the system.

Air conditioning and lighting are the applications that concentrate the most on energy consumption and increased energy optimization. The integration of passive solar air conditioning in the design phase helps to reduce the building’s air conditioning needs. Similarly, the arrangement of large windows, allows to maximize the natural lighting of the interior. This light source, in addition to reducing electricity consumption, has been shown to accelerate patient recovery and improved worker productivity and responsiveness.

The accessibility of the facilities determines their subsequent maintenance. The facilities must be accessible and allow the expansion and modification of the same with flexible and modular structures.

The patient experiences

Today, the patient has become the center of healthcare. The individuality of the patient and his humanization holds a special importance.

Some examples that are already being experimented are how to improve the user experience in waiting rooms and convert the downtime of patients and companions into useful times or how to facilitate the mobility of people in the hospital in order to make the orientation and travel around the hospital, to reduce the levels of uncertainty and anxiety of patients and companions.

Actions such as the incorporation of volunteers in tasks to accompany patients, noise reduction campaigns aimed at workers, the wide range of services for hospitalized patients or the elimination of payment on hospitalization televisions are already taking place.

Today, the patient experience is understood as a tool for improvement in hospitals. These have become a real ecosystem with access to patients, families, and experts. To collect their opinion and better understand their experience, participatory design techniques are applied to all members, listening to their needs related to the products, services, spaces and platforms of the hospital.

Hospital Architecture- A Therapeutic Element

Science is in charge of the prediction, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of diseases. For its part, hospital architecture firms in India are responsible for developing the physical infrastructure to optimize medical processes in order to improve care times.

hospital-architecture-firms-in-india

Previously, hospital architecture was conceived only to provide medical care, so the buildings had pure shapes, and their design was purely functional in a way that responded to the norm and needs. However, the design of modern hospital architecture (born from medical evidence and research as well as having special attention to every detail that makes up the medical processes and daily use of the facilities) has technology and its constant evolution as its main ally.

Hospital architecture is now seen as a therapeutic element since it aids in reducing the stress in patients, resulting in better recovery process. That’s how hospital consultancy services in Delhi have become a differentiating and important element to consider in medical sector.

Why not before and now yes?

It is important to point out that earlier, the variety of materials that complied with the standard of hospital infrastructure was limited; the construction systems were very rigid and the designs were purely functional.

Fortunately, today the progress in each of these aspects and the variety of possibilities offered by the market in terms of specifications, construction systems, equipment and furniture has enabled healthcare consultancy in India to design with the well-being of patients, their companions and medical personnel.

Understanding the importance of light, thermal comfort, silence, landscaping and interior design in a hospital is vital because they are the starting point to achieve that differentiating aspect. For a hospital, medical care equipment and innovative infrastructure guarantees a greater influx of patients. But to get there (innovative infrastructure) the implementation of smart materials and modern technologies are the “vehicle” to make it feasible and to create designs that meet the standard and function.

Nowadays it is possible to guarantee natural lighting (knowing how to control its incidence in spaces), provide thermal comfort (ensuring adequate ventilation), offer interior and exterior landscaping through physical and visual contact with terraces and gardens (guaranteeing that there will be no risk infection and contamination for patients), control noise (to make recovery spaces quieter) to the point of “hiding” the medical equipment (which is not aesthetically pleasing) since this often intimidates and scares the patient .

It is clear that hospital project consultants in India will continue to evolve, thanks to technological advances and that is why more and more hospitals are joining this architectural revolution almost taken out of a science fiction movie. And is that so or did you imagine that one day it would be possible to walk among nature in a hospital? Could you work on the laptop comfortably in a waiting room?

Healthcare architecture firms in India have taken an exceptional turn to the conception that previously prevailed so that you will see more and more hospitals that, in addition to meeting a primary need, will seem almost like a majestic work of architecture. It only remains to say that beyond the institutional image that modern architecture provides to hospitals, what should be emphasized the most is that the patient is dignified in such a way that despite being ill, he feels together with his family in a friendly place that makes his stay pleasant and peaceful.

How To Reduce Costs In The Construction Of Hospitals?

Image and design occupy many expenses when building hospitals; therefore, before carrying it out, a cost evaluation is usually done. Hospital construction teams focus on complying with the requirements established by the owners who, together with graduates in architecture and engineering, are responsible for making plans.

The design, planning, and financing of the construction of hospitals are usually very expensive procedures. Ensuring that capital exceeds the budget for the construction of hospitals should be an option.

This is due to the fact that usually, additional expenses arise, whether due to material failures, a change of suppliers or having to hire more personnel for the construction and thus be able to streamline this process. There are different ways to save money in the construction of hospitals; these are:

Decrease critical functions

There are hospitals whose facilities have an estimated 30 years old, so they lack technological advances regarding their structure and equipment. In addition to this, they have a wide capacity for the beds of patients who are hospitalized. Currently, the construction of hospitals is based on the creation of integrated care spaces. Among the spaces that could be combined is the ambulatory surgery room with the chronic disease management room. It is because both require medical equipment of the same kind.

As told by hospital project consultants in India, evaluating the area in which the construction of hospitals will take place is fundamental. Those mostly busy areas, where the surroundings are expensive, is not an alternative if the costs are reduced.

hospital-vladivostok

General considerations

One of the ways to reduce costs is to build hospitals in buildings that have been developed for a few years. Making an expansion in them would be more economical.

It is necessary to verify that the structures of these buildings are well supported. The study should be done by a professional in the field. The building has to have extra land that allows expansion for some regions of the hospital, and it is recommended that these are not in the center of the city.

The reallocation of spaces is essential if it is an expansion. The areas built must be adequate for the functions that will be carried out in it.

Design of spaces

The designs of spaces for the construction of hospitals will depend on each unit. Not all areas of hospitals require the same equipment. Therefore, many of them carry a different design. For example, in the operating rooms, you need modular systems that allow the installation of medical gases. Contrary to this, in emergency rooms, only a system capable of sustaining oxygen is required.

While the areas of the hospital are large, it will require more investment for maintenance. Another way to reduce expenses is by creating open spaces.

General considerations

The design plays a very important role if hospital construction is all about.A good design of the areas made by the hospital consultancies in India allows hospital workers to perform their work more efficiently. For example, build a module in which there are several beds for patients, divided into capsules so that they are a little more independent of the others. These rooms are built a few meters from the nurses’ station, so that they can be guaranteed direct access to the capsules, allowing patients to be treated quickly.

Role of Healthcare Architecture Firms in India

Designing and planning to build a hospital require exceptional knowledge and skill in various fields which is almost impossible for a single person. The healthcare architecture firms in India helps to make an effective plan and design that leads to the construction of a well constructed healthcare facility and run a smooth and successful functioning of a hospital. Hospital designs are more complex in comparison to any building design. To provide various types of services such as emergency rooms, clinical laboratories, security, surgery, hospitality and food serving that meet with regulatory codes need exclusive and detailed planning, you need hospital project consultants in India.

The perfect hospital design provides all functional requirements according to human needs that include:

  • Bed-related inpatient functions
  • Outpatient functions
  • Diagnostic and treatment functions
  • Administrative functions
  • Service functions
  • Search and teaching functions etc.

02

The smooth movement of people, material and waste, effective communication and convenient transportation is the key requirement of any hospital building.

What would be the building attributes in a hospital design?

Hospital space planners should present a design that includes:

  • Shortening of the distance between frequently used spaces to speed up efficiency.
  • Facilitating the convenient supervision of patients with minimum staff.
  • An excellent logistic system that provides convenient transportation of goods and supply, and removal of waste, disposable and recycles material via elevators, pneumatic tubes, box conveyors etc.
  • Provide efficient functioning between the surgical unit and incentive care unit.

Continue reading

10 Keys for an Architecturally Curative Hospital

Therapeutic gardens, natural light, clear and understandable signs, etc. are some of the challenges that help cure the sick.

The disease generates feelings of vulnerability and loneliness. Whether you are a patient, a friend or a family member, the experience of visiting a hospital often causes stress and anxiety. The certainty that hospital project consultants in India can contribute positively to the healing process is increasingly necessary.

Hospital-consultancy-services

DESIGN CHALLENGES FOR A HOSPITAL TO HELP HEAL

  1. – Clear and direct signaling. To help patients, companions, doctors and workers to find what they are looking for intuitively, avoiding detours and wasting time. “A healthy building needs healthy circulation,” says the architect, and in fact, the flow of circulation not only calms but can save lives.

2.- Temperature, lighting, air quality … Each of these elements designed to promote an optimal environment in the hospital should help in the recovery of the patient and this is achieved by fostering a space of refuge and safety, including a selective relationship of the most suitable materials.

  1. – Modular designs. They can reduce costs and deadlines, while environmentally friendly strategies can help hospitals remain sustainable and self-sufficient in the long term.
  2. – Balance between the technological and the physical. On the one hand, health care techniques are increasingly advanced and innovative. On the other hand, a change in the doctor-patient relationship means that patients now have more power than ever before. Hospitals must provide an infrastructure that promotes collaboration between technology, doctors and patients.
  3. – Therapeutic gardens. They are used to improve the quality of indoor and outdoor spaces, which reduces stress and has a direct benefit in patient recovery. In addition, sustainable materials and renewable energy strategies are protagonists in our environmentally responsible approach.
  4. – Soothing acoustics. The perception of a hospital as a refuge is achieved through meticulous attention to detail and decomposition into smaller and more accessible parts when talking about large buildings. Thus, both the hospital and its facilities will be integrated into its environment.
  5. – Maximize natural light and choose colors carefully. A comforting and humane structure must be followed to ensure that patients who remain in the hospital feel at home and do not feel the anxiety that often causes the size and design of a center with these characteristics.
  6. – Flexible designs. Hospitals are buildings subject to constant changes, so they need to be able to respond quickly and efficiently to changing demands, both from the healthcare world and from the patients themselves. The flexibility provided by hospital designers & planners allows anticipating future needs ensuring that hospitals of the present are built to last.
  7. – Delivery in time and budget. Because hospitals face enormous economic demands for their resources and capacities, in a hospital project – which depends largely on public funds – it is important that it be delivered under the parameters initially stipulated.
  8. – Diversity of needs. In addition to patients and their visitors, a hospital hosts the daily work of a wide diversity of employees. The architect must design a hospital that works without problems for all of them.

How Hospitals Benefit From Innovative Hospital Management

Today, healthcare providers face more and more competitors, increased cost pressures, a growing number of elderly and chronically ill patients, and changing regulatory and quality requirements.

Healthcare reform is promoting a trend from mass to value-based healthcare with new “network” delivery models and more seamless transitions between care settings such as hospitals, outpatients, and home care. In this highly competitive and cost-intensive environment, running a hospital is particularly complex. It requires more transparency regarding quality and cost parameters to enable data-driven decision-making and process innovation.

It’s not an easy task to improve the quality/cost equation: hospitals need a lot of energy and have the infrastructure with the highest fixed costs- and many have built-in inefficiencies.

What can facility managers do?

Hospital consultancy services perform a crucial role in the transition. Improved facility management can deliver significant value, and there are challenges in many areas such as resource, service, space, and energy and quality management. Facility managers focused primarily on service delivery should improve collaboration and align strategies with technical leaders to ensure that “soft” and “hard” facility management sizes are well integrated.

Hospital-consultancy-services

Here are some ways hospital project consultants in India can improve their company’s performance:

  • Ensure that buildings are up to date and work efficiently
  • Track essential assets and medical equipment in real time
  • Switching from reactive to preventive maintenance to minimize risk and optimize lifelong equipment costs
  • Converting fixed plans and deadlines for service provision to usage-based facility management and predictive clean-up
  • Support the accreditation of the hospital (e.g., by meeting the requirements for permanent access to the object site with linked status and maintenance history)
  • Presenting a quality image to attract patients and medical staff (the best doctors are expecting the best facilities)
  • Gain insight into land use, allocate available land and area requirements, optimize m2 usage, and support relocations
  • Improve energy efficiency and reduce waste
  • Increasing the comfort of patients and visitors (e.g., parking, signage, climate control)
  • Monitor, ensure and record the quality

Best Practice Processes and Software Support

Existing processes must be explored throughout the facility to accommodate new requirements and become more efficient. The need to align with best practices and to be cost-effective is even more significant in cases of mergers and an enlargement of the institution. Integrated FM software can help drive standardization and can generate data for better insights into performance. In healthcare facilities, FMs should focus on best processes that meet regulatory and accreditation requirements.

hospital-project-consultants-in-India

IoT technology and usage data

New and affordable smart building technologies enable FMs to improve operations based on actual on-site values. From signage on the property to ample parking for visitors, to user-friendly cleaning through clicks on bathrooms, many imaginative healthcare scenarios can be used. Technological advances are turning the entire healthcare industry around.

Sensor-collected data (big data) can also be integrated with traditional data from facility management software and other data sources, providing great potential for reducing costs and improving the user experience. Facility management will follow suit and benefit from the possibility of new technologies to become even more powerful.