Newport Hospital, a member of the Lifespan health system, recently broke ground on a $12.5-million project that will transform the hospital’s emergency department, nearly doubling its treatment and exam rooms and providing new, specialized space to serve behavioral health patients.
Designed by E4H Environments for Health Architecture, the five-phase renovation/expansion is slated for completion in September 2019. The existing ED will remain operational throughout construction.
Once complete, Newport Hospital’s 21,000-square-foot renovated ED will provide 29 total treatment areas, an increase from 17. The project will also add relevant support space, including a rapid treatment area consisting of six exam rooms, a clinical decision unit consisting of four 23-hour stay rooms and a behavioral health pod with four treatment rooms separate from the general ED population to ensure an appropriate environment for patients experiencing behavioral health issues. The new ED will also offer three triage spaces for arriving patients, compared to one at present.
Overall, the project involves renovating 11,000 square feet of existing ED space, converting 6,000 square feet from adjacent outpatient and administrative areas to ED use and creating new interior finishes for another existing 4,000 square feet.
Each treatment space is being designed and appointed similarly to maximize operational flexibility. Dedicated wall-mounted workstations, within each treatment space, will facilitate bedside registration and documentation to provide timelier patient registration, care and checkout. The new nurse workstations are positioned to maximize sightlines and offer more walking space in and around the stations.
Some of the other key features of Newport Hospital’s renovated ED include:
- Open reception desk and waiting area
- Separate new lounge and waiting area for patients and their families receiving clinical results, to improve utilization of exam rooms and reduce patient wait times
- Expanded staff lounge and staff conference room and larger, modernized medication room
- Upgraded finishes at administrative support areas
- Energy-efficient, high-performance LED lighting with dimming controls for occupants
At the start of the project, E4H conducted a Lean 3P workshop to inform the schematic design of the new ED. Across three days, more than 70 hospital employees from multiple departments consulted and collaborated on key decisions regarding the future state of care delivery.
Through an Integrated Project Delivery approach, E4H and Newport Hospital are collaborating with general contractor Suffolk Construction and engineering consultants BR+A Engineers to optimize the project’s design and outcome and maximize cost efficiencies in design, construction and future operations.
