Creating a Culture of Patient Safety through Innovative Hospital Design

Abstract

When SynergyHealth, St. Joseph's Hospital of West Bend, Wisconsin, decided to relocate and build an 82-bed acute care facility, they recognized the opportunity to design a hospital that focused on patient safety. Hospital leaders believed that if a facility design process was "engineered properly," it would enhance patient safety and create a patient safe culture. Unfortunately, the planners found little information to give them direction. To help them plan the new facility, they conducted a national learning lab, drawing what they could about patient safety from available literature; inviting experts from the health care profession and other fields, including transportation, spacecraft design, and systems engineering; and involving hospital board members, staff, physicians, and the facility design team. In this case study, the author describes the process used by St. Joseph's to design a new hospital around patient safety. The author also discusses safety design principles, providing examples of their application at St. Joseph's new facility. Finally, recommendations are presented for the architectural design of all health care systems, including new facilities, remodeling efforts, and additions.

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