CONCORD, CALIF.–A new research report from The Center for Health Design, (CHD), with support from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, (AHRQ), and the Facility Guidelines Institute, (FGI), finds that it is essential to focus on patient safety during the facility pre-design phase, as decisions made during this time affect all key decisions made later in the project. Titled, “Designing for Patient Safety: Developing Methods to Integrate Patient Safety Concerns in the Design Process,” this report is the first part of a patient safety risk assessment tool kit that will be developed over the next three years.
CHD recently received a three-year grant from AHRQ to further define and produce practical resources for design practitioners to use as tools to integrate patient safety into the various phases of facility design. FGI is also committed to supporting this work over the next three years. Other key partners for this work include MedStar Institute for Innovation (MI2), Kaiser Permanente and the Innovation Learning Network (ILN). Findings from this project will be disseminated at the 2015 ASHE PDC conference.
“We are looking forward to continuing this work with AHRQ and FGI over the next three years, creating a comprehensive tool kit that will give design professionals and healthcare administrators the information they need to make informed design decisions,” states Anjali Joseph, Ph.D., EDAC, vice president, director of research, The Center for Health Design. “This work will allow us to develop practical evidence-based tools for implementing the patient safety risk assessment included in the 2014 FGI Guidelines for Design and Construction of Healthcare Facilities.”