Who designs the layouts of these hospitals anyway??!!

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It has occurred to me that hospitals are often not designed with the nurse in mind. I have worked on units where the medications were kept on another unit. I have worked where you had to prepare your medications on a keyboard (no joke) because there was no other place to do it. I have worked where you had to walk long distances to get to the nurses station and break rooms are on the other side of the building. I have worked where everything that you need from medications, to trash, to needle boxes, to light switches are located differently in each room. Absolutely no consistency at all. Why don't they create ways for nurses to conserve energy so that we are more able to function at peak levels? So what gives?

Manufacturing seems to have accomplished the task of helping workers become as efficient as possible by creating atmospheres where less energy is required to accomplish more. Why hasn't this taken place in nursing and the design of hospitals? Is it because many hospitals are designed piecemeal with each addition? What about new hospitals? A relative complained that the new hospital where they were employed was "horrible" and "you just walk your legs off". What do you think about it?

Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Trauma.

Sorry...reading all these comments turns my stomach for all the disrespect for the work nurses do (which we all know is the main reason people are hospitalized in the first place), the ill-logical thinking of the administrations and the designers.

Who else should design the rooms? Who else should have meaningful input but nurses?

I get the legalities and technical needs, but work WITH US!

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Trauma.

Oh, one more t

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Trauma.

One more thing...simple, lightweight work carts that can be wheeled around a poorly designed room can solve a lot of problems. Inexpensive and can be used for any number of tasks. Have I ever been able to get a manager to approve? Nope!

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55 minutes ago, BeenThere2012 said:

One more thing...simple, lightweight work carts that can be wheeled around a poorly designed room can solve a lot of problems. Inexpensive and can be used for any number of tasks. Have I ever been able to get a manager to approve? Nope!

What did your project proposal look like? Need help drafting an ROI?

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1 hour ago, BeenThere2012 said:

Sorry...reading all these comments turns my stomach for all the disrespect for the work nurses do (which we all know is the main reason people are hospitalized in the first place), the ill-logical thinking of the administrations and the designers.

Who else should design the rooms? Who else should have meaningful input but nurses?

I get the legalities and technical needs, but work WITH US!

What if I told you that nurses are often core members of the design teams?

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On 4/10/2019 at 10:42 AM, skylark said:

Two points.

Firstly, European hospitals built by Dutch designers make so much more sense. I don't know whether they consult nurses or just observe and use common sense, but somehow they get it right.

Second, my all time favorite design fail was a Level 1 Trauma facility built about 15 years ago.

Helipad on the roof, with a shelter for receiving staff so they don't get rained on or blown away. They even had a locker intended to hold a supply of bottled water and bananas replenished daily, so you could snack in those last few seconds as it came into land, knowing it was going to be hours until your next break. Beautiful.

But its never been used because some total dingbat of an architect provided stairs only and no elevator up to the roof. His reason was that there are no handicap staff work in ER. When we finally got to meet this genius and ask how we were supposed to get the patient down from the roof, I have never seen the color drain out if anyone's face so fast!

Which hospitals are you referring to? Personally I think some of the newer German hospitals are set up pretty well.

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Trauma.
27 minutes ago, Asystole RN said:

What if I told you that nurses are often core members of the design teams?

I believe you, but then who approves the final designs because if you read these comments it’s clear that what is needed does not not get put into play.

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Trauma.
27 minutes ago, Asystole RN said:

Which hospitals are you referring to? Personally I think some of the newer German hospitals are set up pretty well.

I don’t work in Germany!

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10 hours ago, Asystole RN said:

What if I told you that nurses are often core members of the design teams?

In most cases, these "nurses" present in the design teams are Nurse Managers, Nurse Educators or Nursing Directors. In other words, people that have not done actual front line nursing work in a very long time. I have seen this firsthand and it led to outlets being at ankle height on a brand new build hospital. Forcing nurses to break their back to reach those outlets placed so low.

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Specializes in Surgical, Home Infusions, HVU, PCU, Neuro.

I've worked in one hospital where the bathroom was close to the entry of the room and the door swung out, the entry door swung in. Had a pt vagal down and pass out in the bathroom, with the door open. Took forever to get in because the door handles locked in in each other. It was lovely

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
8 hours ago, The Incredible Nurse said:

In most cases, these "nurses" present in the design teams are Nurse Managers, Nurse Educators or Nursing Directors. In other words, people that have not done actual front line nursing work in a very long time. I have seen this firsthand and it led to outlets being at ankle height on a brand new build hospital. Forcing nurses to break their back to reach those outlets placed so low.

And many of those nurse managers or nurse educators or, in one case, nurse practitioners have spent so little time at the bedside that they have no idea what the job entails. One manager I knew who was on the design team went direction from school to being "head nurse" in a LTC facility. Then she became manager of CCU . . . HR was so proud of recruiting her because she was "such a successful manager." She never worked a single day at the bedside.

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Specializes in ER.
On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 4:01 PM, subee said:

Back in the 80's I worked in a hospital that was based on the renaissance hospital concept of a triangular building. All the patient rooms faced the outside and the nursing work areas situated closer to the middle of the building so that med rooms , laundry, etc were shared by the units in the core. Cut down on distances walked. An idea centuries old:(

Dutch hospitals follow the same design. And in London, England, Charing Cross Hospital follows the same plan, its probably the most nurse friendly place I have ever worked. Every floor is the same, with patient rooms around the outside, and workpspaces in the middle. There are central disposal chutes for linen and trash in the dirty utility, and the elevators bringing clean linen and meals are placed between the kitchen and linen store on each floor. Just basic common sense, but rare when nurses aren't involved in the planning.

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