Healthcare Design - August 2016 - 105

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Q&A

with Todd R. Medd

AIA, NCARB, principal architect
and director of healthcare practice
studio, JLG Architects
How has your business
changed in the face of
healthcare reform?
We have seen a marked
increase in the need for
ambulatory care facilities.
With more access to
insurance and thus more
access to healthcare,
our healthcare clients are
seeing rapidly expanding
patient counts. Rethinking
and redesigning existing
spaces to be more efficient
and technology-rich can
allow a health system
to deliver better care
to a higher volume of
patients than the facility
was originally designed.
Our clients are having to
do more with less, and
as healthcare architects
it is our job to leverage
their environments to help

them accomplish these
challenging goals.
What is technology's
role in the design of
healthcare spaces?
Technology is inextricably
woven into the healthcare
environment. During the
architectural process, 3-D
virtual systems are used
for design coordination of
patient room headwalls,
operating rooms, central
energy plants, etc., so as to
facilitate communication and
better, more collaborative
design. This technology also
allows for prefabrication of
building systems to shorten
construction schedules and
reduce building costs. On
the operational side, the
incorporation of Real-Time
Location Systems, tracking

care delivery metrics, and
self-rooming in ambulatory
settings, along with digital
medical records and digital
wayfinding technologies,
lead to a healthier and more
efficient experience for
patients and providers.
What role does
collaboration play in
your process? How do
you ensure the right
people have a voice at
the design table?
Collaboration is critical to
any phase of the design
process. The use of design
charrettes, physical mockups of critical spaces,
and 3-D virtual design

coordination allow for
the gathering of essential
information necessary to
design the facility as well
as buy-in from the staff
and the end users early in
the project. It is paramount
to integrate staff from
across the continuum of
care as well as across
the facility's departments.
What may work well for one
professional may cause
issues for another. The key
is listening to very complex
needs and distilling them
down into simple, cohesive
solutions.
How will the design
of healthcare spaces
change to meet the
demands of today's
consumers?
Competition is at an alltime high and the number
of players in the market
is rapidly increasing. We
are finding that the key
to making sure that our
clients are able to not only
increase market share but
also deliver better and more
efficient care is to create
spaces that are easy to
navigate, increase caregiver
collaboration, and deliver
a variety of services to
maximize the visitor's time
in the facility.
www.jlgarchitects.com

Photo: Shawna Noel Photography.
http://www.jlgarchitects.com http://www.jlgarchitects.com
Healthcare Design - August 2016

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