time, you may have had certain tests done to you that were unnecessary or may even be in a procedure that is not ideal because doctors didn’ t have your information. Electronic records allow your information to be accessed the moment you enter a facility.
JK: When you check into a hospital, whether through the ER or admitting, you sign a release form for your patient records and they ask you from what facility it’ s from. Once you sign it, the new facility will have access to all your records.
Electronic health records accessed through IP networks have made patient care more personalized and effective at any location. How has technology design impacted the patient care experience itself? Has it given patients more control? JK: Newer technology systems in medical facilities allow the patient to be involved in their care. They know well in advance what their next procedure will be by looking at their patient dashboard. All the details of their care are on that dashboard and both doctors and patients can see relevant information like history, procedures, prescriptions, referrals and so on. Before the electronic dashboard, all that stuff had to be found separately in paper records.
MF: The other push has been to bring patient care outside of the hospital and into homes and smartphones. Caregivers are pushing data out to patients because it speeds up care. Patients can see test results and then call or video conference their doctor without having to travel or deal with hospital wait times. That’ s allowing doctors to interact with more patients, doing more with the limited hours they have on any given day.
How has healthcare MEP design enhanced the care experience? MF: MEP is getting increasingly patient-centric. Previously, MEP designers wanted to create spaces that were within a boundary of conditions. They made assumptions about what a patient room should be, what temperature, what level of humidity, light levels and so on. Now, through patient telemetry and patient biometric data, facilities can cater to individual patient needs, in a specific room and even at a specific moment. Yet
MEP designers are still trying to make systems that are as efficient as possible. Healthcare has a reputation as energy intensive but that’ s only because facilities need to comply with certain standards. Energy costs are still money out of the owner’ s pockets and there’ s always a drive to spend less money on energy. But there’ s also a drive to increase patient comfort because that gives them an edge over competitors.
JK: Facilities would try to make the temperature as comfortable as possible for as many people as possible. But you still had people in perimeter areas that were
Holy Cross Medical Center
either too hot or too cold. Now, facility operators can focus on individual patient rooms, through enhanced sensors, and localize settings.
MF: All the new utilities that we bring into the spaces are highly filtered and monitored. Facilities have purified water at any time they need it, they have filtered oxygen and gas available for patients who are vulnerable and susceptible to diseases. MEP designers take a lot of steps to make sure that the utilities provided at facilities are of the highest quality.
What are some design trends, either MEP or Technology, that come to mind for the future of healthcare facilities? MF: One of the big things that comes to mind is IoT( Internet of Things). As more appliances and pieces of equipment feature continuous internet connectivity, facilities staff will have to analyze that data and figure out how much of it can be used. Barriers between data collections systems will break down as system data is shared across other systems. A room’ s occupancy
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