Healthcare Design - September 2017 - 17

RICHIE GILL PHOTOGRAPHY

MAKING ROOM
FOR WOUND CARE

A 400-square-foot
chamber room
within the Wound
Healing Center at
Edinburg Regional
Medical Center in
Edinburg, Texas,
includes two
hyperbaric oxygen
therapy chambers
and patient lockers
adjacent to a subwaiting area.

MORE PATIENTS with chronic wounds that won't
heal unaided are seeking treatment in hospitals
and outpatient facilities. The prevalence of people
with diabetes and pre-diabetes in the general
population, higher rates of obesity, and aging baby
boomers are fueling this demand, along with the
rise of severe anemia, radiation tissue damage,
burns, severe bacterial infection, and gangrene.
Without proper care, these wounds can lead to further health problems or even amputation.
In response, healthcare organizations have been adding wound
care units to deliver specialized care. A wound care unit typically
includes a waiting area, exam rooms, a dressing area with lockers for
patient changing, a sub-waiting area for patients awaiting treatment,
and a chamber room where treatment is delivered. There's also a
consultation room for patient and family discussions with clinicians
and bathrooms for patients and clinical staff. Support spaces needed
include tech work and physician charting areas, soiled holding, and
equipment storage.
A primary procedure of wound care is hyperbaric oxygen therapy
(HBOT), a medical treatment designed to enhance the body's natural
healing process through the inhalation of 100 percent oxygen. This
treatment takes place inside a total body chamber, where atmospheric
pressure is increased and controlled. Planning for these units in a
healthcare facility involves careful consideration of spatial requirements, particularly to accommodate the chamber and the process
of loading patients, who enter at the end of the chamber via a gurney
that's part of the HBOT equipment.
Demand for HBOT is expected to increase as more patients suffering from chronic, non-healing wounds become more aware of the
therapy. Here are some additional planning considerations:
* Given the size of the chamber, architects and designers need to
plan the route required for installing and removing them from the
treatment space.
* To address the patient experience, television and audio entertainment systems are often built into the chamber, as treatments typically last between one and two hours, with five sessions generally
required to treat acute conditions.
* It's important to consider the high volume of oxygen needed to operate hyperbaric chambers. Specifically, facilities with a wound care
unit need a dedicated medical gas yard that's as large as 16 feet by 25
feet and located near the facility to house a bulk oxygen tank, reserve
bottled oxygen, bottled medical air, and a medical gas manifold.
For more planning considerations for wound care units, visit
HCDmagazine.com/wound-care.-Matt Fabre, senior associate and
healthcare team director, O'Connell Robertson (Austin, Texas)

SEPTEMBER 2017

http://HCDmagazine.com/wound-care http://skydesign.com http://skydesign.com

Healthcare Design - September 2017

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