The Wicked Problem of Waiting Rooms: It’s About People, not Process

Posted May 14, 2014 by Kyle Hoogewind

Discover a process to evaluate wicked problems in the waiting room, and by simply replacing negative factors with positive solutions, improve the waiting room experience.

The Wicked Problem of Waiting Rooms: It’s About People, not Process

May 22, 2014

11:00 am Pacific/2:00 pm Eastern

For more info and registration visit The Center for Health Design

 

Whether it’s an Emergency Department or a dentist’s office or an ICU, the waiting room is one of the few spaces common to almost every healthcare setting, and healthcare designers have a wealth of experience in conceiving this space. However, once built, the waiting room continues to be a major problem area in terms of patient and family experience, as well as organizational efficiency. Healthcare organizations struggle to accommodate high patient volumes and a variety of acuity levels, while patients and families deal with a roller-coaster of emotions, long wait times, and lack of privacy. The vast majority of Evidence-Based Design research on the topic of waiting room design is based in case studies, which provide little generalizable evidence for further application.
This webinar will focus on the current state of the spaces we design for waiting, and will pose the question: “What does a waiting area need to be?” Several examples will be presented of successful designs that provide a positive experience for patients, their families, and staff. Finally, a design checklist for consideration during the design process will leave the audience with a concrete set of solutions to include in their next waiting room design.

 

Speakers:

Barbara Huelat, FASID, EDAC, AAHID

Barbara J. Huelat is one of the field’s preeminent experts and prominent speakers on healthcare design and technology. Her life’s work has been to prove that design can impact human outcomes. Ms. Huelat has been engaged in creating healing environments with more than 300 healthcare organizations. She is a founding board member of The Center for Health Design, National President of American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers and author of two nationally acclaimed books: Healing Environments: What’s the Proof and Healing Environments for the Mind, Body and Spirit. Barbara regularly participates in healthcare design research with prominent researchers and organizations. She has introduced trends in healthcare design including: best practices, business case values, life cycle costing, appropriate materials/furnishings, bacterial mitigation practices, and patient-centered approaches using Evidence-Based Design. Barbara’s many successful projects, plus recognition by patients, families, and healthcare professionals verify her credentials as not only a woman of clarity and vision, but one who translates personal beliefs in healing principles into spaces which impact our bodies, minds and spirits.

Melissa Piatkowski, EDAC, Green Belt Lean Certified for Facilities Design
With a professional background in both architecture and social science, Melissa Piatkowski’s research focuses on the relationship between the built environment and health. Expertise in Design Research gives her the tools to evaluate the success of Healthcare projects through Pre and Post Occupancy Evaluations and side-by-side comparison studies. Melissa leads the Research efforts at Davis Partnership, providing internal education and opportunities for Architects, Interior Designers, and Planners to use applied research to inform an innovative design process.

 

Learning Objectives:

1. Review current state of wicked problems in healthcare waiting areas.
2. Become familiar with waiting room design theories, such as “The Third Place,” prospect refuge, and scalability – and understand how these can inform better waiting room design.
3. Consider the big picture question: do we need waiting rooms? And if we do, what does a waiting room need to be?
4. Discover a process to evaluate wicked problems in the waiting room, and by simply replacing negative factors with positive solutions, improve the waiting room experience.