PrintMeeting the Latest Standard of Care
Marin’s population has grown tremendously in the past 60 years, and it’s only logical to assume that the new hospital building needs to be bigger. What’s more, the design has to be efficient – there are only 7.2 buildable acres on the 19.75 acre site. However, the goal is not just to expand, but to “right size” the hospital. Modern hospitals need higher ceilings to accommodate a plethora of wiring for high tech equipment. Operating rooms have more than doubled in size since the sixties. There is a need for more storage and bigger loading docks to accommodate new technologies. Ultimately, the emphasis is more on building a better hospital than a bigger one.
Promoting Best Practices
The new hospital building is being designed according to modern best practices, with an emphasis on increasing safety and efficiency and on providing patients and visitors with the best possible experience. Some of the best-practices improvements include:
- Modular Design. Flexibility is built in to the plans so that services can be changed out within the same “footprint”. The interior of the hospital has been designed in a grid format that allows for modifications and acuity changes to suit evolving community and hospital needs. For example, a space that is designated as a 28-bed medical/surgery unit can easily be repurposed to house 2 ten bed ICUs.
- Onstage/Offstage Circulation. Like most of today’s leading edge hospitals, the new MGH building will have separate hallways and elevators for staff and visitors. This enhances efficiency, protects the privacy of patients during transport and reduces the risk of infection. A separate staff elevator provides a “closed loop” between surgery and sterile processing, so that contaminated waste can be disposed of without passing through areas used by patients and their visitors.
- An Interventional Platform. All interventional procedures, including surgery, interventional radiology, electrophysiology and the cardiac catheterization lab, are all grouped together on one floor, for easy access and streamlined workflow.
- State-of the Art Surgical Suites. Literally twice the size of the existing surgical suites, the new suites will accommodate all the latest equipment and facilitate cutting-edge team surgeries in which two surgeons collaborate to operate on the same patient simultaneously.
- Healing Environment. Research has shown that an attractive environment that lets nature in is beneficial to patient recovery. The new hospital will have plenty of natural light, and several easily accessible green spaces, including an accessible roof top garden. Patient rooms will be planned according to acuity, so that patients who are alert and not acutely ill will be housed in rooms with views of Mt. Tam or the grounds. Most, if not all, of the patient rooms will be private. In the West Wing we will have 60 private rooms where 19 could swing to double beds in an emergency giving us a potential 79 beds in the West Wing.
Enhancing Existing Departments
The new design encompasses the expansion and upgrade of several key departments. The diagnostic and treatment capabilities of the Emergency Department will be increased, resulting in more efficient service and shorter wait times. Labor and Delivery will include 12 patient beds, a NICU, and even a roof- top garden.
Facilitating Access
The addition of two new parking structures will resolve ongoing parking issues at MGH. Level, covered footpaths will allow for easy pedestrian access to all public hospital entrances. Plans also include a new ED Emergency drop off and a bigger loading dock to accommodate more traffic equipment.
