![]() A small arm allows the doctor to move the computer screen in view of the patient when needed. After MPA’s tests of about five systems, the computer chosen for the room was recessed slightly into the wall, but set above a more traditional desk where patients are afforded space to take notes. Only high-scoring features were included in the final design – an almost exact replica of Exam Room 3 of the warehouse mockups.Ĭouncil members liked the half-round desk and adjacent bench where patients could sit comfortably for conversations with their providers. ![]() Participants tested and scored all features of each design. Each room was a fully functional medical exam room ready for scenario testing by the Council. Construction manager Cutler Associates built them with complete millwork, equipment, windows and lighting – but with different layouts and variations in operational components – like the power exam tables with varying degrees of adjustment. In this case, and to facilitate the Council’s hands-on participation in the process, MPA designed three full exam rooms. Mockups in Lean design typically range from cardboard constructions to detailed replicas of a room or other structure. “Standard work” is another important tenant of Lean design, so the intent was that all exam rooms be same-handed.Īrmed with the information from the Patient and Family Advisory Council, MPA’s Lean design process then began in earnest with sophisticated computer modeling, and ended with three life-size mockups in a Reliant warehouse. In health care facilities, areas of waste typically include waiting excess or lack of supplies in the exam rooms unnecessary motion, such as long walking distances and that erosion of trust in the triangular relationship mentioned between the doctor, patient and the all-important computer. The feedback was funneled into the Lean design process – aimed at eliminating waste and inefficiency in the final outcome. Site visits were conducted and Reliant’s information technology department was also consulted. Before MPA could even begin the design work, patients, medical providers and staff of various ages were interviewed about the current exam room setup and their feelings on everything from lighting to those computer desks. The prescription was Reliant’s use of its Patient and Family Advisory Council. Similarly, if a patient is sitting on an exam table with a doctor standing above or sitting below, communication about important health issues may be impacted. If the provider is spending most of the appointment looking straight into a fixed computer, the level of comfort a patient will feel with the doctor may be diminished. But Reliant wanted to ensure that within the exam room triangle – involving the provider, patient and computer – direct human interaction was being preserved at all points. A proliferation of computers in health care and an increased use of electronic medical records has made almost everything efficient during medical appointments. While many of us are familiar with references to the doctor-patient relationship, the doctor-patient-computer relationship may not be as familiar a term. In order to arrive at that result, both Reliant and MPA chose to involve the opinions of the people most affected by the operational environment of a medical practice: the patients, providers and staff. The result is an efficient interior design that aims to improve doctor’s office visits in a variety of ways. In 2011, Margulies Perruzzi Architects (MPA) of Boston and Reliant Medical Group, a multi-specialty medical group in central Massachusetts, launched an initiative to examine the “exam room of the future.” Before relocating its Holden Family Practice to a newly constructed patient care building in Holden, Mass., Reliant sought to create a universal exam room that could serve as a model for its future locations. And general exam rooms are improving too. Dentists are streamlining their appointments by investing in new equipment. Physiotherapists are replacing their outdated equipment with the more technologically advanced supplies sold by suppliers like Remington Medical. It’s happening in every part of the healthcare industry and definitely isn’t going away any time soon. ![]() Just as primary care medicine is constantly evolving so is the doctor’s office and the exam room settings many of us will visit throughout our lifetime. Long gone are the glass vials of cotton swabs and tongue depressors – and even the post-exam lollipops. ![]()
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