birthing center trend healthcare building ideas apr 2007

7/25/2019 Birthing Center Trend Healthcare Building Ideas Apr 2007

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nnual Healthcare FacilitiesMaintenance Report

Health ca re Bu il ding Expo

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2 COMMERCI L


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irthing centers gaina significant market share

modern BirthCenter s the bestexample of the

healthcare industry's abilityto respond to the wave of

consumerism and need forgreater econom ic returnsto hospitals thaI swep t theU n ited States durin g the

past three decades. KM Dhas planned and designedseveral new, an d now

iconic, birth centers thatintroduced timely innovations within this rapidly

maturing healthcare serv-ice. hile perhaps mostwell-known for its workwith major academic med-ic;: centers suc h as

Br igham and Wo me n sHos pi ta l in BasIon a nd theDuke U nive rs it y Me di calCe nt e r, KMO's designs forbirthing centers n Salt LakeCity, Santa Cruz, Calif., andGastonia, N.C., have beenconsid ered pro totypes oth -ers have emulated at keyevolutionary stages in hos -

pital pl anning and a rchitecture.

Given how these newfaci lities helped improvepatient outcomes and

patient satisfaction ratingsand have enabled hospital sto gain market share, penetrate new marke ts. improvestaff retention and increasebottom-line results, e lrh-

care Building Ideas askedKMD 's Jim DiaT. to expandupon those early innovations and the current trends.

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In the 19805. manyobstetricians were uncomfortablewith the idea of family-cen

tered Birth Centers and thusfavored the con tinu ation ofthe ste rile . traditional , hospital- like labor-delivery suiteepitomized by the ancientmaternity ward.

The Cottonwood Centerfor Wome n 's Hea lt h , locatedin Murray , Utah suburb ofSalt Lake City. was our first

Til e Cotlollll ood Center for Womell 's Healtll is loca ted ill Murray, U tall, a suburb of Stilt Lake City. t w s KA1D s f i r s tbirOlillg ce llt er, co mplet ed in 1984.

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birthing ce nte r, and we hadworked closely with hospital staff and Birthing Consul tant Mary Ann e G raf todesign somet hin g truly dif

feren t. This new facilityrejected the notion of thepatient as a passive participant in the birth processcarried out in a co ldly clini-cal environment, and instead emphasized mom ,baby and the family, an dcre ated an at mo sphe re toreflect birth as a joyous andshared event. This pioneering Utah faCility quickl ygained national atten tion

and became a prototype forbirthing centers that followed.

Concerns among doctorsat the time were not unusual. In part , practical matterssuch as how insurers mightview the risks of delivery inthese homey environmentsdrove their co ncern. Butthey also reacted negativelyto a shift in power fromdoctors to pa tie nts that suchbirthing conce pt s embodied .

It was a ref lect ion of theacceptance of consume rismhy hos pit als as competi tivepressu res inc re ased, buta lso recognition o f improved patient ou tcomes,increased staff satisfactionand financial benefits thesedesigns delivered.

Birthing centers grew outof healthcare provi de rsresponse to a movementfueled by suc h events as r .Ro be rt Bradl ey s introduc tion of his p rogram o f husbandcoached birthin g thatbrought fathers ou t of thewaiting room an d into thedelivery room and the publication of Imma c ulat e De-ce ptio n by Susann e A rm sand Fred eri ck l e Boye r s

Birth Without Violence, aswomen embraced naturalchildirth in the home andaway from the ste rile se ttin gof a hospital.

The challenge hospitalsfaced was to crea te a n environment that welco meddelivering mothers a nd theirfamilies with the comfortsof home, but without compromising the safety of ahospital.

Prototype f o r birthingcenters nationally

In 1984 KMD completedan addition and remodel to

cre ate the Cente r for Women s Health at CottonwoodHospit al. Modeled after ahome, the Center featuredresidential detailing suc h asbay windows, cath edr al ceilings, hardwood noors andexposed brick. On the su rface, the rooms with theirplush furnish ings appe aredlike a well-appointed hotel.But beneath the surface lay amedical technology at read yaccess.

Undernea th the queensize quilts sat birthing be dsthat break ap


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TIle Sli tt e r M eriiCllI Cel/ter l O W w I er con s t m ct io ll i n Sa cram ent o Cal if. t w ill iu el ud e nli e 'll 395 , S llar e-f oot M f t emnl-CJl ild Pa v ilioll IIOI/sillg 19 fnbor-d el i llery -re cOl leryrOO /llS 22 nllt e partllm beri s 5 1 po s tp a r t ulII beris 61l1eollntn/ ill i e ll si v cnr e bnss i llet s 20pedinfric illt ell s ive cnre bed s 40 nC i t e ped in fri c beds tlJ ld 48 nd li lt in t e n s i v e cnr e /lel/s nlw itll n Imti ellf Illl d fllmily foc ll s.

but expands on them. nle room. Wi th that in mind, the satisfaction ratings in Sut-birthing sui tes provide ove r- hallwa}'s arc unusuall}' wide ter's 25- hospital s},stemsized rooms that blend the and provide living room throughou t Northern Calif-appointments of a fine hotel style gathering places with ornia . For five consecu tive- including 24 -hour room su nlight streaming in from },ears it gained the highestservice - wi th medical skylights and large wi n dows ra ting na tio nally among 350technology embedded more likely to be found in a hospi tals surveyed by thebeneath the surfaces. TIlese high-end home. lParkside Groupl fo r patientrooms provide a spacious The center gained such satisfaction . To date itand priva te sett ing with renown that it soon charged remains in the 98th per-soundproof walls and $ 1 000 per tour . Sutter Ma- centi le of facilities evaluat-screens to block views in terni ty used the fee to fLind ed by Press -Gain ey . It hasfrom the hallwa) . A sofa bed the ac q uisition of unique ca p tured about 2S percentalcove and access to a p ri- works of art . Thanks to the of the marke t for labor andvate ou tdoor deck complete strong word-of-mouth, delive ry in the a rea. And,the ensemble. patients trave l from as far 10 years afte r its comple-

Though the rooms are away as 50 miles, bypassing tion, Su tter is now leverag-designed to allow friends alternatives closer to home ing the Ce nt e r s strongand family to remain to del iver al Sutter Ma ternity. financia l pe rformance tothroughout the labor, deIiv - expan d with the construc-ery, recovery and bon di ng Strong f inancial tion of another medicalprocess, the re are times r sults office building on an adja-when it may not be appro- The San ta Cruz Ce nter cen t site.priate for visitors to be in the boasts the highes t employee It is an open, light, and

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spacious facility that p rovides a very nice environmen t for employees andpatients and thei r f m i l i s ~says Ric N ich o ls, adminis

trator of Sutter Maternit yand Su rge ry. It really doescrea te a he,lling environmen t that contribu tes toboth employee and patientsatisfaction.

Ga


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n c Birt/lp/ acc at Gastoll at Gastoll Memorial Hospital illGlIstollia, N .C Will t lOl lS comple ted ill 2004, tile f lci lit yfwd tile (fishllctioll o f beillg till la rges t s illgf e-Jloor birthill g

cellte r ill tlil Ullit ed St lltes .

As in the past , we drewon evidence-based designto incorporate elementsknown to improve healingand reduce stress, such asexp o sure to sunlight andnature. Because of the single floor layout, we wereable to design doubleheight volumes in the public spaces, with clerestorywindows and skylights thatflood interior spaces withnatural Iight.1he Birthplacealso features interior gardenspa ce with trees as wellas outdoor gardens. TheBirthplace does not follow atraditional floor plan for ahospital. Instea d it wasdesigned to maximize privacy, minimize patient and

employee stress and make i tpossible for employees toefficiently handle the highlevel of births.

The floor plan uses theconcept of neighborhoodsof rooms arranged alongstreets . To minimize noise,we placed carpet in patientcorridors and offset roo msw ith entryways. In a nod toDisneyland, we providedse parate corridors in thecentr al core of the facilityfor service fun ctions so thattraffic and noise caused bymoving equipment, supplies and staff are not seennor heard in-patient andfamily areas. This allowspatient hallways to remainquiet even al the busiest

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times for the facility.We be lieve it is important

not only to look back atwhat we have learnedthfOu gh research, but also

to look ahead to find waysto design facilities that workfor the people who occu pythem. As part of that effortwe relied on extensive inputfrom hospital staff, administrators and pati ents. In fact,beiore moving ahead withthe final de sign we constructed a pro totype birthingroom so use rs could try iton for size. Th at resulted innumerous modifications

tha t ul timately allowed usto construct rooms thatwere s maller than those atmany new hospitals , butwere just as comfortableand efiicien .

TIle rooms include adaybed for family members,a large spa-bath in-roomrefrigerator and CD/DVDsystem. Duplic


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~ lot of times you buildhospitals for the wrong reasons. You want it to look acertain way to the patientsor you don t think abouthow

you are going to workin that space. And you windup with a beautiful buildingthat doesn' t work. We havea beautiful building thatdoes work, said KathleenBess on , who served as former director of Women'sand Children's Health a tGaston Memorial during thebuilding of The Birthplace.That just takes a lo t of dia

logue and thinking throughto a very specific level ofdetail - even down to howhigh outlets are off theground, and the differentmaterials, and the type oflight control and soun dcontrol and privacy and lineof site.

less than a year afte ropening, Gaston showed a22 percent drop in the totaltime hospit

birthing center trend healthcare building ideas apr 2007

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