Healthcare Design - September 2017 - 14

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HEN JEANI NATWICK, principal at NAC Archi-

tecture (Spokane, Wash.), started designing
the Spokane Teaching Health Clinic, she realized a standard approach to clinic layout
wouldn't work. A partnership between Washington State University (WSU), Empire Health
Foundation, and not-for-profit health system
Providence Health & Services, the clinic delivers care to an underserved population in Spokane, Wash., while also
serving as a training facility for Providence's residents in family medicine,
internal medicine, and psychiatry.
The building that previously housed the program was being demolished
to make room for a new psychiatric hospital on WSU's Spokane campus.
This provided an opportunity to create a new facility, also on campus, that's
designed to support resident training as well as multispecialty care. "Their
goal is to teach and learn to work collaboratively," says Natwick, who
served as principal medical planner on the project that opened in August
2016. "Creating an environment where the residents can learn from each
other as well as the staff was our most important task."
To facilitate this, Natwick and her colleagues designed the 42,000-squarefoot building with 53 exam rooms and three procedure spaces for treatments such as skin biopsies and circumcisions. These rooms are spread out
into four hallways that radiate off a large preceptor area on the first floor,
where residents can consult on patient care plans with their supervisors as
well as other trainees and instructors from nursing, pharmacy, social work,
and physical and occupational therapy. Residents can enter from any of the
hallways into the preceptor area and immediately see who is available to help
them, says Terri Ahlf, residency clinic manager at Spokane Teaching Health
Clinic. "They never have to wander around looking for anyone."
The staff area has desks and computers but no walls or divisions, to foster collaboration and provide for future flexibility as the clinic's needs
change or teaching models evolve. "It can be reworked in any number of
ways in the future," Natwick says. Since many of the staff members spend
most of their days here, the room features a wall of windows to provide access to natural light. The building's second floor houses occupational and
physical therapy, imaging/lab services, and administrative offices.

SEPTEMBER 2017

ABOVE: A large, open
space in the center of
the clinic serves as a
preceptor area where
residents can consult
with their supervisors
and one another about
patients. ABOVE, RIGHT:
The check-in area was
designed to be bright
and airy, with multiple
stations to assist about
250 patients per day.
BELOW: Neutral, timeless
finishes were chosen
for the exam rooms,
including solid surface
countertops and maple
laminate casework.

Because the facility is not-for-profit, the
project budget was very tight, Natwick says.
"However, since it's in a visible part of WSU's
Spokane campus, it was important that we used
building materials that respected the campus
context while staying within our budget," she
says. The team brainstormed ways to keep costs
down but achieve the desired look, including
using a mix of metal panels and brick veneers in
key areas where they'd be most noticeable and
incorporating corbeling, particularly around
the windows, to add visual interest.
Inside, the materials palette includes lighttoned woods, neutral wall and floor coverings,
and artwork that provides pops of color in the
lobby and hallways. "Our patients really appreciate how comfortable the new facility is,
and the residents love that they can always find
someone to help them with their cases when
they need them," Ahlf says. "There is a great energy that you can see when everyone is working
together."-Beth Hertz, freelance writer
LARA SWIMMER (PRECEP TOR AREA, LOBBY ); BENJAMIN BENS CHNEIDER (E XAM ROOM)

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Healthcare Design - September 2017

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