Offered by Harvard University Graduate School of Design Executive Education and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine.
Emergency care is a universal component of healthcare, although the scope, organization and facility characteristics vary dramatically. Moreover, emergency facilities are being replaced and expanded as a result of continued volume growth, increasing scope of services, and longer patient stays due to admissions delays. Understanding these patterns provides opportunities to integrate techniques from other systems and to understand issues related to supporting health care development in other cultures. This course is designed to address what is crucial to the long term success of an ED, which is establishing a common understanding of terminology, operational goals, and design concepts by medical and design professionals. This understanding will involve the use of LEAN, six-sigma, and other management techniques are providing benefits to the management and care of patients. Restructuring process flow patterns present opportunities to achieve safer, more efficient care. The management of emergency departments faces a real disconnect between the operational and facilities planning. Over the ten year life of a new emergency department the US population will grow by 30 million persons while with the percentage of elders increasing at an even faster rate. Design must anticipate and accommodates these changes.
This two day course will present examples of successful process redesign, benchmarking analysis, and facility design. The potential implications of healthcare reform and other policy initiatives will be explored. Case studies in contemporary design will be presented to illustrate the process and options for assessing space needs and department layout. The educational format for this course includes lectures, case-studies, and Q and A.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Identify the components of the planning and design process, including typical role, tasks, and products.
- Summarize recent innovations in the operations and management of emergency services through case studies and benchmarking data.
- Compare and contrast the use of effective tools for achieving effective interaction between design and medical professional.
- Recognize current concepts for addressing “event scenarios” resulting from man-made and natural disasters.
Target Audience
Emergency Physicians, Emergency Department Chiefs, Directors and Emergency Department Nurse Managers, Emergency Department and Hospital level Administrators, as well as Hospital/Healthcare Architects.
This course is designed to meet one or more of the following Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education competencies: patient care, practicebased learning, interpersonal skills and system-based practice. The Harvard Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Harvard Medical School designates this live activity for a maximum of 15 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design Executive Education is registered with the American Institute of Architects Continuing Education System (AIA/CES) and is committed to developing quality learning activities in accordance with the CES criteria. Earn 15 Learning Units, including Health/Safety/Welfare.
