Mercy Health-West Hospital

Mercy Health-West Hospital

Mercy Health-West Hospital is in Cincinnati, Ohio. The goal for this project was to combine two dark and dated Cincinnati- area hospitals and provide a new way for healthcare and launch a new brand. Champlin Architecture and AECOM, Mercy Health-West Hospital partnered with Knoll Furniture Solutions to create this project. Its means is to update patient care while meeting new standards and providing long-term flexibility. This update was completed in the year 2013. The square footage expanded to 624,000 and there are now 77 team workstations for 750+ care providers. Mercy Health has 8,000 employees and physicians.  The hospital is affiliated with more than 1,500 physicians who practice a wide variety of medical and surgical specialties. 

The tactics for this renovation was to have a blend of centralized and decentralized workspaces, to have a modular furniture system and easily adjustable furnishings, and an integrated storage system and updated technology. Knoll Furniture provided a wide variety of furnishings for this hospital. To help centralize and decentralize the space, the interior designer, Kirstie Pudlock of Champlin Architecture designed teamwork areas that supported the collaborative activities and improved the patient experience to enhance operational efficiency. While deciding on the furniture style, the designer took into consideration how flexible and durable the furniture needed to be. While evaluating the employees, Kirstie Pudlock decided they needed a modular furniture system. They wanted “a simple, streamlined design with a modern sensibility”. (MHWH) The modular workstations helped the employees communicate better and stay organized during their shift changes. Another big change in this renovation was decreasing more storage. Mercy Health wanted to try a new approach to storing their patient files. They wanted to turn their patient files into an electronic file. This will allow a computer to be placed in each room as well as workstations outside of every two rooms. The outcome of this update greatly improved teamwork and interdisciplinary planning. “Nurses have closer interaction with physicians, caseworkers and therapists, facilitating care decisions, providing greater efficiency and an improved patient experience, related Mercy Health’s Meade”. (MHWH) 

REFERENCES 

Mercy Health-West Hospital (2015) Retrieved From https://www.knoll.com/knollnewsdetail/mercy-health-west-hospital-case-study