Your firm's role in the project:
SERVICES: Design Consultation, Clinical Consultation, Product Development, Engineering, Materials Development, Workplace Research adn ongoing analysis of how products and materials are addressing the needs of the space. A formal research study lead by Herman Miller's Workplace Metrics Research Group in a partnership with the RAND Corporation, will provide Washington Hospital Center and Herman Miller Healthccare with an analysis of the impacts of the new caregiver design on staff performance and key behaviors. This will be accomplished by comparing the new caregiver stations and adjacent patient care space to the existing space that uses a traditional design approach.
PRODUCTS: Flexible modular caregiver workstations with newly trialed products and finishes, ancillary work stations, a nutrition station, a stat laboratory, and task seating.
Type of facility: Emergency Department addition in 926 bed tertiary care hospital
Number of beds: 20 new treatment bays in the ED
Specialty services: Emergency care and treatment
Project vision/goals:
ER One will:
- Provide unique emergency care and response capability designed to respond to a full range of threats in the Washington area and substantially augment the response capability of the National Capital Region;
- Serve as a model and demonstration facility for other emergency centers in metropolitan areas vulnerable to mass casualty events; and
- Become a resource for emergency preparedness that will offer ongoing education and training programs nationwide.
In adddition, the Bridge to ER One will allow observation and testing of the caregiver work environment to determine if the design enhances the work experience, provides the flexibility and adaptability desired and supports process improvement in the ED.
Lessons learned:
Herman Miller Healthcare has installed trial products and materials in this pilot project to better understand the real performance requirements of this high-use, high-abuse environment that requires complete flexibility and adaptability. Our research study, yet to be completed, will provide information on how these products and the newly designed space is performing for clinical staff, patients, and families.
Links to published articles on this project:
Washington Hospital Center, Community Health LInks e-newsletter; Fall 2006 Cover Story http://www.whcenter.org/body.cfm?id=1850
Herman Miller, Inc. Website; Caregiver Work Environments paper: Transforming the Emergency Department, Spring 2009
http://www.hermanmiller.com/Healthcare
Additional details:
ER One is designed to be a new type of emergency care facility that will manage patient surges and medical conditions resulting from crisis situations. The Bridge to ER One is testing those concepts. The project is about innovation and doing things better than in the past. Herman Miller Healthcare developed a caregiver station design with the Resolve System that adjusts to and accommodates the continuing changes that happen on a daily basis.
The space was designed to create a healing environment as well as an environment that supports the work of the caregivers. The staff finds the open environment to be more relaxing. According to Mark Smith, MD, Chair of Emergency Medicine at Washington Hospital Center, communication breakdown between caregivers is a major cause of medical errors. The open design of the Resolve caregiver station encourages communication between members of the care team. "We are looking to be part of a paradigm shift, not just incremental advancement," Smith says. "You need to take chances, to test things in the crucible of real experience. This is a living laboratory."