Healthcare Design - June/July 2017 - 9

EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Hank Adams

D ATA R E D U C T I O N

Gathering user group insights has become
a common thread in most healthcare design
projects, but is it on the way out?
By Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

John W. Andrews
Carolyn BaRoss
Jody Barry

PERKINS+WILL

PERKINS EASTMAN

EARL S WENSSON ASSOCIATES

Sheila F. Cahnman
JUMPG ARDEN CONSULTING LLC

Thomas W. Chessum

at Healthcare Design seven
years ago-a journalist by trade, as opposed
to a designer-my experiences as a healthcare
patient or family member helped me to understand the context of what you all do and the
decisions you make. I knew on a very personal
level what my sources were describing, because
I'd experienced it in one way or another.
In the past year, I've consumed more healthcare than I ever had before, thanks to the birth of
my first child, Sam. After countless prenatal visits and trips to the pediatrician, two days in a labor and delivery unit, plus
one 5 a.m. dash to the emergency department for croup, my first-hand experiences have grown exponentially.
Recently, I shared a laugh with one of our jurors during the Healthcare
Design Showcase judging in Chicago, when the group was assessing an
image of a labor and delivery room that featured a queen-size bed, deep
tub, comfortable family accommodations, and loads of natural light.
"This room would make me consider having another baby," she said.
I could relate; my husband still gripes about his back hurting from the
sleeper chair in our room. This space we were seeing was one that made you
think: "They listened."
Our editors hear a lot about community interviews, focus groups, patient and staff surveys, etc.-it's become so commonplace that I almost
take it for granted. Just look at "Love Story" on page 24, an in-depth profile of Cherokee Indian Hospital in Cherokee, N.C., where the patient
population wasn't engaged just at the start of the project but through to
completion, with the driving condition of satisfaction being that the local
population loves the facility.
So I was a bit surprised the other day when a panelist at a private roundtable I moderated prior to our HCD CitySCENE event in Dallas (for photos, see page 22) said that his firm is scaling back on user involvement,
noting that there's no evidence that suggests projects with deep user
input perform any better than those based more wholly on professional
expertise and best practices. I'm curious if others out there are trending
in this direction. Did the industry finally come to a place where perhaps
there were just too many voices at the table? What's the best balance to
strike?
I'd love to hear your thoughts, because I have a hunch there are a lot of
patients and staff out there who were glad you heard theirs. 
WHEN I STARTED

LEO A DALY

ADVENTIST CARE CENTERS

Jeffrey Brand
Sam Burnette

HDR

CO ARCHITECTS

James Crispino
ATELIER FOR HEALTHY ARCHITECTURE

Christine Hester Devens
Mary Frazier

AECOM

EWINGCOLE

Jocelyn Lum Frederick
H C TANG RAM DESIGN

Natalie Miovski Hagerty
THE CHILDREN'S HOS PITAL OF PHILADELPHIA

Laurel Harrison
Walter Jones

STANTEC

METROHEALTH SYSTEM

Julie Kent

TRINITY HEALTH

Michael Lied
Jain Malkin

G BBN ARCHITECTS
J AIN MALKIN INC.

Mike McKay
Don Orndoff

ERDMAN

KAISER PERMANENTE

Diane R.K. Osan

FKP ARCHITECTS

Mark Patterson

SMITHGROUPJJR

Andrew Quirk

S KANSKA USA BUILDING

Pamela H. Redden
HKS INC.

William D. Repichowskyj
E4H ARCHITECTURE

Joan Saba

NBBJ

Kim Shinn
TLC ENGINEERING FOR ARCHITECTURE

Janet H. Sisolak
UT MD ANDERS ON CANCER CENTER

Karl R. Sonnenberg
ZIMMER GUNS UL F RASCA ARCHITECTS LLP

Steve Stokes CALLISONRTKL
Jeffrey C. Stouffer
Joseph Strauss

HKS INC.

CLEVELAND CLINIC

Paul E. Strohm
Jocelyn Stroupe

HOK

CANNONDESIGN

Don Thomas

BWBR

Roger S. Ulrich
CHALMERS UNIVERS ITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Gary L. Vance

VANCE CONSULTING

J U N E /J U LY 2 01 7

Healthcare Design - June/July 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - June/July 2017