The Facility Guidelines Institute recently presented a workshop on major changes to the 2018 Guidelines at the Summer Leadership Summit hosted by the American College of Healthcare Architects and the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health in Chicago, Illinois. Ellen Taylor (Center for Health Design) discussed new physical environment requirements for telemedicine services and Bryan Langlands (NBBJ) introduced two new tables intended to help designers determine where an exam/treatment, procedure, operating or imaging room is required.
In addition, Langlands, along with David Vincent (HKS) and Christine Carr, M.D., professor of emergency medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, presented a new concept that did not make it into the 2018 edition: low-acuity patient pods in the emergency department. Use of these innovative design elements is intended to help emergency departments better manage “vertical” patients, those whose treatment doesn’t require a 120-square-foot treatment room. Many such patients are treated in hallways or makeshift bays, and healthcare organizations are looking for ways to improve their care.
The low-acuity patient pod concept will be presented for inclusion in the next edition of the guidelines. To gather information to further refine the proposal, FGI plans to present the pod concept at future conferences and to publish a white paper for public consideration. To view all presentations, visit fgiguidelines.org.
