A LOOK FORWARD: TRENDS TO WATCH IN HEALTHCARE AND HEALTH SCIENCE DESIGN

NEW YORK, March 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- E4H Environments for Health Architecture is dedicated to continuously cultivating expertise to deliver impactful and transformative design. As we look forward, trends in healthcare and health science design are emerging to the forefront, re-framing our approach and challenging assumptions. Our subject matter experts are cultivating these trends and their impacts on the healthcare, research, and innovation communities.

Elevating Voices through Community Care

Healthcare is a right, not a privilege, thus healthcare design should welcome and embrace both individual needs and the heart of each community. From patients with mobility, sensory, cognitive, or mental disabilities to those facing financial hardship and barriers to access, taking a holistic approach to delivery of care through a community-based, medical neighborhood model helps to meet needs of underserved populations. Community Medical Centers are addressing the social determinants of health, including physical and behavioral wellbeing, food and housing security, and access to community resources, crisis support, transportation, and more. E4H is working with multiple clients, incorporating patient and community voices through focus groups, surveys, workshops, and advisory meetings to ensure projects meet present needs and provide for existing gaps in the delivery of care.

Commonwealth Care Alliance (CCA), Ryan Health, and Carbon Health are some of the healthcare providers that have engaged E4H in the design of Primary Care and Engagement Centers. E4H shares the commitment of these organizations to incorporate community members as an active part of the design process. This helps to ensure consumer perspectives are authentically represented throughout services and operations. By involving end users early in project planning and through the design process ensures these projects meet community and client needs. Programs such as CCA's Member Voices is a wellspring of information, providing insights that add value and allow designers to create a more welcoming and useful space that anticipates and addresses end user preferences and functional challenges while building trust.

Addressing Staff Retention through Design

Staffing shortages, remote work, burn out and the "great resignation" has shined a spotlight on workplace environments and culture in an unprecedented way. The paradigm shift to a hybrid workplace model has allowed some organizations to make wholesale changes to their real estate strategies, saving millions of dollars on administrative facilities; however, these gains come at the cost of a thriving workplace culture, and the innovation "collider effect". The importance of providing energized workspaces where people are drawn to connect and collaborate with their coworkers, as well as effective space for focused, heads down time is an added challenge. Design elements such as circulation pathways, visual intrigue and engagement, and a variety of spaces, both indoors and out, help to create human-centered environments that foster innovation and collaboration.

This human-centered approach should also be translated to healthcare spaces. As highlighted by the recent pandemic surge, nurse and caregiver burnout is a persistent issue, some hospital CEOs are reporting their medical units are under-staffed by over 50%. With the next generation of nurses watching the system struggle to support its current employees, the healthcare arena needs to invest heavily in staff retention much like the innovation industry, communicating the value of the staff to attract future caregivers. Caring for the employees through respite spaces, in-house counseling, and using lean design concepts to maintain effective staffing ratios are sound strategies, in addition to biophilic and wellness focused design, that can reduce fatigue and burnout, increasing attractiveness for hospitals competing for employees.

On Time and On Budget

Delivering projects on time and on budget requires dedication, precise coordination, teamwork, and foresight during the lifecycle of a typical design and construction project.

The last two years have been anything but typical: Construction pricing inflation averaging 12-15%, with some specialty items as much as 100%, are coupled with manufacturing delays and supply chain issues, shipping complications, reduced workforce, stringent safety protocols, and unpredictable COVID patient surges. These factors disrupt hospital construction schedules and delay design meetings. A new slate of considerations and challenges must now be addressed from the outset of every project.

As a response to the ever-shifting pandemic landscape, we find that staying in constant communication with our clients during this unique period in history is crucial to delivering a successful project. E4H relies on our wide network of design and construction professionals and are constantly analyzing our current projects to keep up to date with the latest pricing and supply/demand trends. Construction managers and contractors can help identify items with long lead times and provide expedited reviews of materials that may have imminent price increases. Investigating product alternatives to provide side-by-side comparisons to inform clients if selecting an alternative product might benefit their budget or the project schedule.

Urban Innovation vs Rural Investment
Work-from-home technology, organization, and productivity is changing the real estate landscape in unprecedented ways, while impacting urban and rural districts in different ways. As much of the white-collar work force has no intention of going back to the office full time, the lack of commuters is drying up downtown districts that were once bustling with activity, sapping vital energy from regional centers that create the bulk of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Real estate developers, investors and local leaders are looking to life science research laboratories to become the new economic engines of downtown areas. The nature of this work often can't be done from home, as specialty tools and labs are required for their work to continue. With supply chain issues for essentials such as steel resulting in a two year wait for large orders, we can expect more office properties to be repurposed into lab space; Innovation Districts will be created with tax and investment incentives, and "vertical residential communities" will be established in former corporate skyscrapers as cities seek to lure the workforce back downtown.

Conversely, because rural and suburban districts offer land for development, better access to transportation and warehousing, and lower-wage workers. Investments will focus more on upstreaming applied technologies from the pilot stage into manufacturing. This requires greater investment in high-speed internet, reliable power grid, green technologies, and skills-based technical training. Overall, we anticipate a growing demand for flexible research and manufacturing space and sustainable energy infrastructure to meet power demands.

Healthcare from Home
The pandemic changed the way providers looked at healthcare. With COVID-19 cases projected to have periods of surge and decline, many E4H clients have focused efforts on diverting care to the home, utilizing telemedicine and at-home healthcare to consolidate programs, reduce demand on emergency facilities, relieving pressure on assisted living facilities and medical centers.

Professional caretakers can provide care from the comfort of their patient's living rooms. Home care providers have safeguards in place to provide precise and compliant care. Shared networks, between hospitals and health agencies, allow for accurate and real-time patient information. Caretakers can provide nursing assessments, monitor patient status, and keep in close contact with the patient's primary-care physician. 

According to Polaris Market Research, the market for home health sky-rocketed after 2020 and is predicted to grow at a Compounded Annual Rate of Growth (CARG) of 8.33% by 2026. Other a myriad of factors including increased telehealth coverage for insurance, real estate costs, staffing shortages, and increasing costs of hospital care are also contributing to the steady growth.­­

Advancing Assisted Living Environments
Across the country, there is a severe shortage of affordable assisted living facilities. This shortage contributes to a bottleneck in the delivery of care, often resulting in longer patient stays in hospitals, skilled-nursing facilities, and nursing homes. Creating more affordable, assisted living facilities alleviates the challenge by freeing up high-acuity beds. These facilities are less expensive to operate than skilled-nursing facilities or nursing homes, and tax incentives encourage developers to build and operate them.

Research has shown that connecting people to nature within the built environments leads to better outcomes, thus incorporating biophilic design is becoming a best practice. The siting and building design should maximize views of nature and the outside world. Incorporating more windows creates an indoor/outdoor connection and provides natural light. Dimmable lighting can mimic circadian rhythms, and natural materials and finishes reinforce biophilic design. Incorporating renewable energy and high-efficiency fixtures also help to lower operating costs and environmental impacts.

The Transit-Oriented Design (TOD) model emphasizes pedestrian-friendly communities, and mixed-use buildings to provide easier access to medical care, public transit, groceries, and other amenities. Safe sidewalks, bikeable streets, and access to high-quality transit allows residents to move freely without relying on a car.

About E4H 
E4H Environments for Health Architecture is dedicated to designing facilities that enhance healing, advance health research, and elevate hope. Our innovative designers deliver transformative spaces that support our clients' goals. We emphasize human-centered design, rooted in collaboration, and supported by future-forward ideas. We create thoughtful operationally efficient spaces and speed to market solutions across the healthcare and health science + technology spectrum. For more information, visit www.e4harchitecture.com. 

Media Contact:
Julie Bellino
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888.781.8441

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