When it comes to medical offices or clinics, there is no standard design. The budgets and needs vary significantly. This is because the medical office design is dependent on what really works. The right design is one that allows efficient processes, cuts costs, provides sensible workflows and improves patient care. This is why it is very important to think through the design of your medical office before you even contact a contractor. You have to consider such things as the overall goals of your practice, medical operational details, medical equipment needs, patient care needs, and personnel needs. The objective of this post is to help you make the most educated choices when planning your health-care facility.
Creating an efficient layout: tying tasks to locations
The job descriptions of your staff will help identify the services and tasks that will be performed in your clinic or medical office. You need to use the job descriptions of your staff to determine the priority of tasks, pick the most convenient locations for the staff rooms and make sure the right equipment and rooms are available for the defined tasks.
When you consider the job descriptions of your staff during planning, you will make the most functional use of the space. This will also ensure your team achieves their expected performance and save costs.
Creating an efficient office flow: Importance of traffic patterns
When driving to a destination, extra traffic or using inefficient routes can cause delays. If you do this daily, the time wasted will add up. This is the exact same thing when you don’t minimize traffic in your medical office or clinic. Minimizing traffic inefficiencies in offering patient care and completing general office tasks can have a tremendous positive impact on your daily office activities. This will also improve the bottom line. For example, an incorrectly located exam room or a prescription printer that is outside the exam room can cost you valuable time. The time wasted might not seem like much but it will be prominent on a busy day.
Having an optimal layout is very important. This is more so when you consider the fact that every decision will impact your efficiencies as well as costs. Your medical office design must be created with a clear understanding of the traffic patterns.
Key design elements: Visual aesthetics
Research has shown that the colours and interior finishes have a major impact on the mood, health, and well-being of the staff and patients. On the other hand, there are some colour schemes and materials that can soothe and create a positive view of the healthcare experience.
Your choice of colour schemes has to be done with great care. There is a correlation between spaces that are stimulating and healing. For example, colours that are not overly neutral and those that offer positive distractions tend to promote healing. Although the colours are just part of the overall design, they have the most visual as well as immediate effect on the sense of comfort.
When it comes to your medical clinic or office, you should note that the choice of colours is no longer a personal choice. You need to hire a professional interior designer to help pick the best colours. An expert can apply the principles of colour psychology and offer suggestions for a look that makes the space more appealing while at the same time conveying the desired image.
Technical specifications
Now that you know how your medical office needs to look like, it is time to tackle the technical aspect of the design. The selected concept will be the basis of the technical interior architectural drawings. It is the drawings from the structural engineer that will offer the roadmap for what needs to be constructed and how it should be constructed. Your planning/design consultant has the idea and the contractors will follow the plans as approved by applicable authorities and you. Here are the most important technical elements:
- Building permits
This is required by law. You need to get the building permit from your municipality. You will need to have the interior drawing package that conforms to the applicable regulatory standards for you to get a permit.
- Drawing package
This details everything from the installation of fire sprinkler systems to drywall partitions. The inclusions here must be based on the set construction budget.
- Sound proofing
There is a sound proofing requirement for the medical interiors. This applies to the drywall construction. As you search for a drywall supplier, ensure you find one that conforms to the applicable drywall STC and NRC ratings.
As you work on a medical office design, you have to think about the well-being of the patients. You also need to consider your overall space needs and objectives. By doing this, you can achieve the objective of a medical office that is highly functional and one that enhances patient care.
