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A NEW FOCUS FOR HEALTHCARE FACILITIES by Shannon Mastro, AIA & Jeff Pawlowski, AIA
T
he COVID-19 Pandemic is changing Healthcare as we know it. It was business as usual until a global health crisis developed at what seemed like overnight. This caused a shift in healthcare operations, facility needs, and patients’ restrictions, so facilities would be prepared to handle surge capacities at the same time as caring for the daily patient population. Being able to provide care was critical and doing so in a manner that was safe for all patients and staff at the same time. Construction halted immediately in order to make way for temporary facilities and “COVID Wards” within the hospital. Architects shifted focus on emergency projects to get the hospitals ready for this new critical population that was starting to build. At the same time, maintaining all patient needs for the institutions, from outpatient care to Intensive care and everything in between. A year later, and a decreasing number of hospitalizations for the first time in months, Architects and designers are still helping healthcare facilities shift in how their facilities are designed. Strategies including infection prevention, additional storage and distribution of PPE, flexibility of room capacity for overflow situations, increased isolation requirements, a shift in waiting and public space design, and increased telemedicine are just a few of the methods being employed throughout designs.
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The temporary facilities that were established overnight can finally be considered as to whether they remain a permanent solution or be removed to go back to pre-pandemic configurations. In some cases, they would need to still create small changes to make permanent features. Permanent solutions for PPE storage, which has expanded exponentially is the last year need to be considered at the source of distribution so there aren’t large quantities of boxes stacked in the lobby and large scale storage as part of material management department. Phrases like “Social Distancing” seem to be here to stay. Installation of barriers at formerly open reception areas are shifting the hospitality model of yesterday back to a more institutional model of the future. Temperature checks are a new norm that looks like it’s going to stick around for a while. How individuals handle germs are back in the forefront on design considerations. All these items drive the designer’s conversation when planning for renovations to any medical facility, whether outpatient or inpatient. One of the major features appearing in medical design is a new use of technology that was already available, the pandemic is causing these to be rolled out and embraced by patients and staff alike. Telemedicine, for one, is now a normal attribute of healthcare treatment planning. Keeping the patients at home and triaging over the Internet keeps the germs at home with
