Upper Valley Medical Center | Troy, OH PROJECT FACTS: Owner: Premier Health | Dayton, OH Services: Architecture, Interior Design, Finishes/ Furnishings Selection and Coordination
In 2017 Elevar Design Group completed the expansion/renovation to Upper Valley Medical Center’s Emergency Department, increasing its space from 12,700 SF to 32,000 SF with 33 treatment rooms, adding and renovating support spaces, creating a new critical access corridor, and expanding/ renovating Medical Imaging Services. It was of utmost importance to the Premier Health that the Emergency Department, ambulance service, Imaging, and other ancillary services could continue to see patients uninterrupted during the renovation and that there was no clinical impact during the span of the project. In addition, it was imperative that general services to the hospital were not impacted during the expansion phase, which involved dock areas. Elevar performed this phased renovation of the 50,000 patient volume ED, ensuring no disruption to UVMC ED patients. As part of the renovation, several key components of the ED and the flow of work through it were reconfigured. • Direct bedding of patients was implemented. Upon arrival at the renovated ED, a Registered Nurse (RN) and ED technician greet patients and perform an initial assessment and directly bedded. Full registration is implemented at the patient bedside. • Central nurse stations were enlarged and more robustly equipped to meet the needs of a multi-disciplined team of both clinicians and auxiliary staff. Decentralized nursing stations were positioned throughout patient corridors to enable close monitoring of at-risk patients and serve as overflow work stations. • Patient rooms were designed to be universal, supported by supply carts stocked with standardized quantities and goods. Ample space was built into each room to accommodate family members and visitors. • The path to imaging and the capacity of the imaging suite were improved. Rather than a circuitous route across a public corridor, the renovated ED now has a straight path to the imaging suite. An additional CT scanner was installed for fast-tracking potential stroke patients directly by Emergency Medical Services (EMS). In a department wide survey, clinicians were asked on a scale of 1 (highly disagree)-100 (highly agree) to rank the following questions, “The path to imaging has been improved” and “Having medical imaging in the ED has improved patient flow”. The answers to both were ‘highly agree’, with scores of 90 and 94 respectively. • Natural light from both windows and skylights was incorporated into the floor plan to bolster workplace satisfaction. Ample support space for ED staff and EMS personnel was integrated into the design to provide respite and minimize burnout. • A new helipad and ambulance entry were constructed to better assist patients arriving (and leaving) with the help of a care team. A new EMS lounge was included in the scope of the renovation to encourage stewardship and support the auxiliary support network. Prior to the renovation, our team was able to determine the existing ED was underperforming against national standards. In particular, both Admit Decision time to ED Departure Time and Mean Time Door to Diagnostic Evaluation by a Qualified Personnel metrics consistently fell at or above the fiftieth percentile. Through thoughtful engagement of ED administrators, clinicians, and auxiliary service providers, our medical planning team was able to design solutions for the new emergency department to address both spatial and flow issues and improve both staff and patient satisfaction.
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Upper Valley Medical Center | Troy, OH
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