Healthcare Design - June/July 2019 - 34

P R I O R I T Y S PA C E S

As designers search for the right mix of open and task-based spaces,
they're foregoing the traditional role-based work spaces of the past, including an office for every physician or even a workstation on wheels for
each nurse. Instead, they're looking at who needs to be productive in a
space and what type of work must be done-from quiet, focused to more
collaborative-and delivering the necessary space/equipment to accomplish that. Mazzi says she also talks to clients about what kind of work
space characteristics they're seeking, including how team-based it needs
to be, if it's interdisciplinary, and how centralized they want the area to be
located. By combining these characteristics with the types of tasks being
done, she can develop a more tailored plan. "It makes such a difference
when you think about the culture of the space and what people are trying to do," she says. "We're trying to give them space that supports what
they're doing so they don't have to come up with workarounds."
In clinical operations, both in inpatient and outpatient settings, Larsen
says she's seeing nurses' hubs that incorporate space for collaboration,
head-down task areas for individuals, and quiet space to return a phone
call or take a quick break. "These hubs offer much more opportunity
for people to do the work they need to do within those various environments," she says. In outpatient settings, designers are seeing a call for
more centralized collaboration spaces where providers, nurses, and specialists can work together, whether that's in an off-stage environment or
a more centralized bullpen area with tables or cubicles as well as alcoves
for small group meetings.

Staff lockers and
a lounge area
at University of
Louisville Physicians
Novak Center for
Children's Health
in Louisville, Ky.,
designed by GBBN
in collaboration with
EYP, are located at
the corner of each
level of the building,
providing an easily
accessible break
spot for staff.

FURNISHINGS TO FIT

Further supporting these efforts to improve
healthcare work spaces is a variety of new furnishings and adjustable components and systems that can be reconfigured into different
layouts. For example, Mazzi says 54-inch-tall
wall or furniture partitions to delineate work
spaces within an open environment provide
privacy without totally blocking views out to
the clinical area. And while she hasn't seen adjustable workstations catch on in healthcare
as much as they have in corporate design, she
is seeing more standing-height options with
stools rather than sitting-height designs. "If
you think about it, if you're on your feet a lot
but you don't need to stand for a certain task, it
actually expends less energy to sit on a stool because you don't have to lower or raise yourself,"
she says. "So it's easier. Especially if you watch
nurses or medical assistants in a clinic, they're
up and down all the time."
In respite and break areas, Larsen says she
tries to use products, such as LVT flooring in a

GIVE THEM A BREAK

In addition to having workplaces that are more conducive to the tasks at
hand, designers are also emphasizing the importance of staff respite and
fitness rooms to support wellness and combat employee burnout. Cahnman says that previously these "soft spaces" had gotten smaller or were
value-engineered out of projects, "especially when everyone was Leaning
everything because they wanted to reduce 'non-essential' spaces in a hos-

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HCDMAGAZINE.COM

FEINKNOPF

a request that some organizations are more willing to accommodate to
help recruitment efforts. "We're trying to challenge that," Mazzi says. "If
you work for a health system and spend one day a week in one location
and two days in another, what purpose is an office serving?"

pital." Offices and locker rooms were pushed
into other buildings or different floors-where,
she says, they were inconvenient for staff and
sometimes not used.
A better approach-and one that's gaining
favor in light of the renewed focus on staff
well-being-is to locate respite spaces near
staff hubs or in the back of clinics so they're
steps away from where employees are already
working. "We've also tried to give them spaces
where there's natural light and views, so it feels
a little bit nicer," Mazzi says.
For a recent infusion area project for Moncrief
Cancer Institute in Fort Worth, Texas, Corgan's
Larsen says designers located a respite room
within the nurses' work core, across the hallway
from the break room, because so many of the
nurses felt that they couldn't leave the unit during patients' treatments, which can last two to
four hours. "It's small, but it has a floor-to-ceiling window and comfortable lounge chairs, so a
person could go in there and relax for a few minutes," she says.
Still, designers say it's not uncommon for
staff to be reluctant to use break rooms. "It's a
little bit of healthcare culture that makes it difficult to admit you need a five-minute break,"
Larsen says. "But we also recognize that a caregiver who's not stressed out and is engaged and
feeling relaxed provides much higher-quality
care to the patient. So it's important to put
these as a priority within work spaces."
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