As a nurse, perhaps I can provide a different way to look at this as I believe there are two different issues being discussed.
The first issue: The nurse's primary workspace in at the patient bedside. Just like a professional working in an office, the nurse needs the equipment, supplies, and information to care for the patient at his or her primary workstation. In a profession office where individuals are assigned to workstations, computers and all writing instruments would not be located at a central location. Numerous recent studies on walking distances support providing the materials needed to care for the patient at the point-of-care.
The second issue: In professional workspaces, there are conference rooms and gathering places (i.e., water coolers). Nurses also need these spaces BUT they are not in lieu of their primary workspaces. It is not realistic for the nurse to walk to a central space to check an order on a computer, etc.
I think this framework of thinking will help define what nurses need at the bedside and what is needed centrally.
Joyce Durham RN, AIA
Global Health Services Network
Farmington, MI
PS- I am a contributing author to the book mentioned above "Nurses as Leaders in Healthcare Design: A Resource for Nurses and Interprofessional Partners". It is an excellent resource and will be unveiled at HCD15.
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Joyce Durham AIA
Prinicpal
Ann Arbor MI
Original Message:
Sent: 10-26-2015 15:54
From: Earl Marsh
Subject: Has anyone moved away from decentralized nursing on IP units?
Penn Medicine is designing a new patient services facility. As is standard practice today we are designing around decentralized nurse servers on our IP units. In an effort to confirm that this current industry standard remains valid, I am asking if anyone knows of a patient care unit designed around distributed nurse workstations where the client questioned or became significantly dissatisfied with that element after occupancy. For any units where this was the case, did the institution modify the built environment to return to a more centralized nurse work environment? If so, how? Many thanks!
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Earl Marsh AIA
Health System Architect
Penn Medicine Real Estate, Design and Construction
Philadelphia PA
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