Leave the Chaos Behind: RBSD Renovates Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center Emergency Department for Ease and Comfort

Challenge

Because the community within Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center’s (BMHMC) service area continues to grow and age, the hospital needed to develop a state-of-the-art Emergency Department facility that would not only take into account the immediate concerns of the patients and staff, but which would also accommodate future growth. BMHMC relied on RBSD’s extensive experience in architectural design to not only expand the facility, but to create a new department that would ultimately increase overall efficiency while providing a calming, open setting that minimizes the crowded environment and resulting anxiety that too often characterize emergency room visits.

Collaborating closely with BMHMC administrators and physicians, the architectural team concentrated on creating a patient-friendly atmosphere in BMHMC’s new Emergency Department. Designs focused on:

• Maximum patient privacy
• Optimum comfort
• State-of-the-art medical innovations today as well as in the future

Because hospitals are not able to shut down or close departments while undergoing construction, another of RBSD’s challenges was to create the plans that would maintain safety and “business as usual” at BMHMC during the construction of the new department.

Solution

Aesthetically pleasing design features were used throughout the department, such as an interior glass wall between waiting and patient registration areas, which allows natural light to filter inside and creates a soothing, comfortable atmosphere. Exterior floor-to-ceiling windows in the waiting area focus anxious patients and family members on pleasant views, and patient rooms provide an individual, roomier space with larger cubicles and individual overhead heating units for patient comfort.

A unique circular waiting room enhances circulation, and creates an attractive, comfortable environment for patients and their families, including vending/dining facilities and a children's play area. Providing seating for 75 people, the waiting areas were developed in clusters within a bright area that receives abundant natural light from the large windows. 

Recognizing that an efficient emergency department layout is elemental to the rapid administration of services, RBSD created a design that facilitates the ease of service provision throughout the facility, including the following design features:

• Separate entrances for ambulatory surgery, ER walk-in and ER ambulance patients to promote circulation and decrease congestion
• Entry/registration/waiting/triage functions located in close proximity to one another to decrease distance and enhance wayfinding
• Curtained entrances to patient rooms to allow maximum access by medical staff

RBSD designed the registration area corridor for patients to be taken directly to one of three treatment areas: general, psychiatric evaluation, or fast track. The design promotes effective circulation throughout the facility and thus increases speed of service and reduces crowding within any area.

The new department includes a full radiology suite specifically catered to those who need the fastest results. A trauma unit provides for those patients especially in need of Level II trauma care, including overhead x-ray equipment. Reaffirming RBSD’s reputation as leaders in specialty facilities design, the firm integrated modern ambulatory patient support services into the design of the new Emergency Department that include admitting, registration, and pre-admission testing.

RBSD maximized visibility and access with a centralized Nurse’ Station and support facilities surrounded by patient spaces. Because staff is able to better assess the needs of the ED at any point in time, any potential concerns are addressed quickly.

Considering the often-fragile state of emergency patients, it was especially vital to design a patient-friendly building. Privacy measures were included in the design process to comfort patients, including the following:

• Larger patient cubicles to reduce stress from neighboring patients
• Private sinks and storage spaces in patient cubicles
• Solid side partitions in place of curtains in patient cubicles
• An interior glass wall to separate the waiting area and patient registration area to maintain privacy and act as a sound barrier between separate sections of the ED
• A cluster design of the waiting area to create private patient spaces
• Individual cubicles in the registration area to allow quiet patient/staff conversation
• Telephone jacks in all patient cubicles

Consistent with Brookhaven’s modern reputation, RBSD incorporated plans for the most state-of-the-art technologies to be utilized in the facility as well as to accommodate future technological demands, providing more efficient spaces than were possible in the original building:

• Digital radiography access via wireless bedside computer
• Phone consultation by physicians bedside as well as from remote locations
• Wireless registration bedside when needed in treatment cubicles

RBSD’s designs provided opportunity for further growth and technological expansion:

• Designated available space for future CT Scanner
• Included 25,000 square feet of unfinished basement available as needed for expansion

Because uninterrupted services were critical to the hospital as the new addition was developed, RBSD took care to implement phasing and staging plans to maintain all services, patient privacy, and efficient connections to the rest of the hospital during construction.

Result

When New York Governor George E. Pataki keynoted the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Emergency Department in August 2002, it marked the opening of one of the largest emergency departments in New York State, complete with specialty care facilities. Named the Clare F. Rose Emergency, Trauma, and Chest Pain Pavilion, and officially opened to the public in September 2002, the new Emergency Department has enabled BMHMC to meet the current needs of the surrounding community, and will continue to do so into the future. By implementing a layout and design that would expedite ED procedures, maintain order, and promote the comfort of patients as well as staff, RBSD created a design that helps to calm anxious emergency patients and their families.