Self Regional Medical Center, Emergency Department

Serving a rapidly growing, elderly population who use the emergency department (ED) more frequently, Self Regional Medical Center required ED renovations to accommodate future growth. The primary renovation goal was to address operational challenges and to increase capacity while reducing the length of time required for each visit.

Improved Imaging Access with an Added Bonus

Patients were required to travel to the remotely located imaging department for a CT scan while their exam room in the ED remained vacant / held, awaitng their return. This process extended wait times and scheduling for subsequent patients. Our new design proposed adding one CT scanner and two new X-rays within the ED, allowing a more rapid return of patients to their exam rooms. The placement of imaging equipment created a new opportunity for staff to flex between the trauma and Rapid Medical Evaluation (RME) areas. While this is an atypical pairing, these areas usually experience fluctuations in demand at opposite times.

Spaces that Support Rapid Treatment for Less Acute Patients

In the existing ED, patients with minor illnesses and injuries check in by processing through the same sequence of spaces as more critical patients. The renovation proposed two new zones to “treat and street” patients with minor injuries, reallocating staff productivity. An improved, rapid medical evaluation area offers vertical exam rooms which are outfitted like a physician’s office rather than a more expensively-equipped ED exam room with medical gas. A second zone contains reclining chairs for patients who have already been evaluated to await test results, clearing the RME exam rooms to treat additional, incoming patients.

Racetrack Exam Room Configuration Improves Patient Visibility + Staff Efficiency

In the previous configuration, exam rooms were clustered into “pods” of 4-5 rooms but lacked a nearby staff work area. Staff performing documentation or checking test results had to leave the pod and go to a central nurse station, losing visibility of patients when they stepped away. The new design arranges exam rooms around the department’s perimeter in a “racetrack” configuration with staff work areas at the center. This way, staff have continual visibility of the patients at all times.

It was critical to that the ED remain operational during construction, so Cardiodiagnostics was moved to another part of the hospital, creating an “open chair” and making space to reconfigure the ED over the course of several construction phases to 37,600 SF.