Working Hand In Hand

By Joe Lowe, Steve Van Dyke, and Mark Toothacre for HEALTHCARE DESIGN MAGAZINE

Kindred Healthcare’s prototype rehabilitation hospital incorporates lessons learned from previous projects to ensure staff visibility and privacy.

Many healthcare systems today rely on facility prototypes to deliver faster, more efficient new building projects. The complexity of modern hospitals is a driving factor in this trend. When difficult design challenges are addressed and resolved in one project, the prototype approach helps the healthcare system repeat and even improve on these solutions in subsequent projects.

Lean design can work hand in hand to further enhance the benefits of the prototype approach. An example is Kindred Healthcare’s 52-bed stand-alone rehabilitation facility on the campus of Palomar Medical Center Escondido in California. Located in suburban San Diego, the Palomar Health Rehabilitation Institute broke ground in August 2019 and is expected to be complete in late 2020. The healthcare network’s development strategy dictates that the prototype hospital approach that delivers the best value and outcomes for its patients, when combined with Lean design principles, results in a more efficient, cost-effective building product. The facility design for its latest project is based on a prototype hospital first designed and constructed by the Kentucky-based healthcare system in 2008 and 2009 and since used on approximately 35 other facilities. 

Read the full article here: www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com