The COVID-19 pandemic is quickly changing the world around us. Healthcare design is at the forefront of these changes. At the root of these factors: hospital capacity limits, staff health and satisfaction, and patient care, is the way our hospitals and medical offices are designed. In a crisis like COVID-19, it falls onto companies like ForWard Headwall® to help doctors and ER staff around the country get the access, and the ease of use, that they need.
In one of our most recent blog posts, The Importance of Prefabrication and Evidence-Based Design in Healthcare Crises, we went into detail about the benefits of prefabricated furniture. We emphasize their necessity during situations where time is of the essence, like a pandemic. This month, we will focus on the lessons we, and other providers across the country, have learned during this crisis.
Here’s how COVID-19 will change healthcare facility design
The article we feature above is from AZ Big Media. It takes a deep dive into the perspective of architects during the past several months. The author interviews several architects from Orcutt | Winslow. These architects provide insight on the specifics of how healthcare design will change in the future in preparation for times like this. With social distancing, an overwhelming influx of new patients, and an immediate need for hospital buildouts, these architects have a lot to discuss. They begin to dissect the infrastructure of healthcare facility design, what works, and what doesn’t. Now, more than ever, it’s important and necessary to have flexible spaces designed with patient care in mind.
How Modular Designs and Prefabrication Can Help
Although the interviewees mention several techniques and updates they will be making to their own healthcare designs in the future, they are also quick to point out the features that have been successful. Notably, prefabricated and modular designs. The architects explain that “utilization of concepts like demountable partitions could allow for quick reconfiguration of large open spaces and further embracing of modular style design that allows open spaces to be reconfigured.” A prefabricated headwall is a fantastic solution to several cost issues. In addition to monetary cost, speed of construction also plays a huge role in the quick turnaround of patient rooms.
The Cost of Time
This can be seen in our case study with Layton Construction. In this study, the construction of one ForWard® headwall takes 9.5 hours. On the other hand, a traditional hospital headwall takes 38 hours to construct. This time span has the potential to be detrimental to the hospital intake process. During a pandemic, these consequences can be even more severe, as hundreds of other lives are also on the line.
Another detail the architects mention is that “facilities who were forward thinking in terms of planning for resiliency, capacity, flexibility and a focus on staff well-being are reaping the benefits of their investments now.” These are the kinds of facilities we want to create for future patients. During an historic time, we must make historic changes. And, with millions of lives at stake, we need to make these changes fast. Keeping up with a crisis on such a global scale has several moving parts. And with the closing of other medical furniture companies like Wittrock, it is absolutely necessary for the healthcare design process to be as streamlined as ever.
Building a Hospital in Four Weeks
In a separate article, titled “Building a hospital in four weeks during a pandemic,” the author briefly touches on hospital headwalls. More specifically, the time it takes for them to deliver and install. The hospital designers and builders, working with very little time as the main hospital’s patient influx continued to grow, have one month to build a hospital. Using shipping containers for the shell and working 17-hour days, the staff successfully puts together a hospital in the span of one month. The author notes that, for 24 headwalls, typically “you’re waiting on your head walls for six weeks.” With prefabricated headwalls, though, this wait time could have been significantly decreased. This saves time for the installation of other necessary tools.
Where to Go From Here
In closing, there are many lessons that the COVID-19 crisis is teaching us. As it continues, we are bound to learn many more. At ForWard Headwall®, we make it our mission to stay ahead of the problems hospitals across the country face today. It is our job to ensure the safety, happiness, and access of hospital staff. We want to ensure that medical workers across the country have nothing extra to worry about as they continue to save lives.
We thank hospital and medical staff around the world. And for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic, we continue to pray. “In the face of a global pandemic, we need to stand together more than ever.” Apart, not alone.
