Innovative ED Design for Patient-Centered Care

Abstract

With nearly 80,000 annual ED visits projected in the near future, North Memorial Medical Center’s emergency department in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, was experiencing growing patient volumes and increasingly diverse emergency care needs of the communities it serves. After engaging in a traditional renovation and expansion planning effort, the hospital was presented with 3 traditional ED design options. However, after reviewing the options, the ED leadership and staff quickly realized that these “business-as-usual” ED designs did not address the safety, quality, and patient experience expectations they aspired to meet. A new participatory process was implemented to develop and operationalize design concepts that resulted in a fundamentally different ED physical space that supported patient-centered care in a safe and quiet environment. This article describes the design process and the resulting innovative “T”-shaped emergency department with quiet, separate ED clinical work areas, universal patient rooms, and other patient-centered design features. Maribeth Woitas, Member, Twin City Chapter, is Director, Emergency and Trauma Services, Fairview Southdale Hospital, Edina, MN. Sandra Potthoff is Associate Professor, School of Public Health, Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Eric Nelson is Operations Director, HealthEast Care System, St Paul, MN. Craig Matticks is President, North Collaborative, North Memorial Health Care, Robbinsdale, MN.