Healthcare Design - June/July 2022 - 16

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S MANAGER OF THE social workers in the emergency
department at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha,
Neb., Jennifer Sparrock saw firsthand the rise of patients
experiencing mental health and substance use
crises coming into the facility. " Nationally, one in
eight visits to an emergency room or an emergency
department (ED) are for somebody presenting with
mental health and or substance use issues, " she says.
The increase was creating a backlog in the Level 1 trauma center's ED as
some mental health patients who might simply need a space to de-escalate
or wait for transfer to a community mental health organization had to
wait in the ED until their episode ended or a treatment bed was found. At
times, the process could take several days. Additionally, the busy environment
with its variety of noises, lights, and activities wasn't ideal for a person
in crisis. " There were lots of reasons to look at doing something better
and different, " Sparrock says.
In 2019, Nebraska Medicine began developing a new Psychiatric Emergency
Services Unit (PES) to provide a calming and safe environment focused
on stabilizing patients while also alleviating the space crunch at the
hospital and filling a void in the community. Working with DLR Group, the
healthcare organization identified a former imaging suite on the ground
floor of a patient tower for the project.
Recognizing that patients would be presenting with a wide range of
conditions and needs, Adam Post, project manager and architect at DLR
Group (Lincoln, Neb.), says the project team designed the 8,895-squarefoot
suite to offer a variety of settings for patient diagnosis and recovery,
depending on the acuity needs of the patient. For example, a large, open
community room with a variety of seating arrangements is designed for
those who don't need to be isolated or who prefer a more social environment.
Two other clinical areas provide a more controlled environment,
including three individual treatment rooms that utilize color light therapy
and another six treatment rooms for higher-acuity cases.
To address the safety needs of patients and staff, anti-ligature door handles
and hinges and weighted furniture are used throughout the unit. One
of the biggest challenges on the project, which began treating patients in
October 2021, was the lack of natural lighting because of its ground-level
MORE ONLINE: For additional images
of the project, visit HCDmagazine.com/
nebraska-medicine-PES.
TOP: Individual rooms
with color-tuning lighting
are available for staff
to meet one-on-one
with patients to conduct
assessments as well as
for therapeutic activities.
ABOVE: Treatment rooms
for higher-acuity patients
are located on one
side of the unit with a
separate nurses' station.
Soothing colors and
large-scale graphics
are used to define key
spaces within the unit
while also contributing
to the calming setting.
location. To address this, the project team utilized
tunable cove lighting to provide varying
light levels throughout the day and create a more
normative environment, Post says. A color palette
of blues and greens along with large-scale
graphics of nature scenes add a sense of calm and
familiarity within the setting, as well.
Because of COVID-19 screening requirements,
Sparrock, who became manager of the
unit in January 2020, says patients are still coming
through the ED to the unit. However, the goal
is to take walk-ins eventually. Still, she says, the
deinstitutionalized setting is expanding care options
in the community while helping address
the stigma of mental health care. " It was really
important that it feels more like a place of refuge,
where somebody can come when they're
feeling overwhelmed and in crisis and feel affirmed
that they made the right choice to seek
help, " she says.-Anne DiNardo, executive editor
JUNE/JULY 2022
HCDMAGAZINE.COM
KURT JOHNSON
http://www.HCDmagazine.com/nebraska-medicine-PES http://www.HCDmagazine.com/nebraska-medicine-PES http://www.HCDMAGAZINE.COM
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