Awards recognize HGA’s commitment to evidence-based design.
HGA has won three top honors in the annual Center for Health Design Touchstone Awards program, accepting Platinum, Gold, and Silver Levels for using evidence-based design (EBD) research in healthcare planning and design to achieve improved care and delivery outcomes.
“We have crafted a mission to advance research at HGA and identify topics that are important to our clients across markets,” said Kara Freihoefer, PhD, NCIDQ, EDAC, LEED AP, Director of Research / Co-Leader of Design Insight Group at HGA. “The Touchstone Awards validate the importance of conducting evidence-based design research that improves the patient and caregiver experience in healthcare environments.”
The annual awards program highlights how research has been applied to a variety of healthcare projects nationally.
“I am delighted that the number of submissions for the Touchstone Award continues to grow every year,” said Donna Deckard, BSN, MPA, EDAC, Director of Strategic Projects, The Center for Health Design. “The recipients of this award exemplify some of the best applications of the evidence-based design process.”
HGA’s research highlights include:
Platinum Level
Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin | 7/8 North Tower Medical Surgical Unit Build-out
This build-out of two acute care inpatient units on the seventh and eighth floors of Froedtert’s North Tower in Milwaukee maximizes adaptability to accommodate different patient populations, including those with COVID-19.
During predesign, the research team engaged in several Lean exercises through user group meetings, including peer-to-peer interviewing, staff-and-patient interviews, and space-adjacency diagramming. In addition, researchers spent a week on an existing unit in the North Tower to gather baseline data through patient and staff interviews and shadowing. The research identified operational features for an adaptable inpatient unit and patient room design that can flex as care-delivery needs change.
Since completion in 2013, HGA and Froedtert have conducted a series of post-occupancy evaluations using the same predesign research tools to confirm adaptability, including a recent transition in 2019 and another in 2021 during the pandemic.
Gold Level
UPMC Patient Room and Unit Prototype Renovations and Presbyterian Bed Tower
UPMC Presbyterian Bed Tower, in development in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, positions UPMC as a world-class healthcare provider offering specialties in transplant, heart and vascular, and neurological care. The 17-story, 636-bed tower includes integrated digital technology throughout private patient rooms, operationally efficient space planning, iconic architecture in an urban setting, light-filled interiors, clear pathways, and rooftop gardens and other outdoors spaces.
To plan the bed tower, the research team conducted a mixed-method investigation to drive holistic care. Research strategies included ethnographic interviews and focus groups with patients, families, and community members to understand the healthcare journey. Follow-up workshops with UPMC staff, providers, and administrators identified socio-spatial design solutions, services, and experiential needs.
The team previously collaborated with UPMC to renovate inpatient units at the Presbyterian and Shadyside campuses, in which HGA created prototype patient room standards based on Critical-to-Quality metrics. Research findings from the prototype standards informed the new bed tower study.
Silver Level
Design Collaborative: Using Research to Inform Design Decision Making
HGA is working with Scripps Health to replace several buildings on its La Jolla campus in southern California. The program includes a new nine-story, 171-bed patient tower (Tower II), a bridge connecting the new tower to the existing Tower I, a diagnostic and treatment base, a central energy plant expansion, and site improvements with new entry elements.
The project goal replicates Tower I while investigating a new operational “Model Cell” concept, which requires increased staff spaces to facilitate collaborative care huddles.
Utilizing Lean tools that included shadowing nurses, observations of the Model Cell, and simulated virtual/augmented reality, the research team confirmed that Tower II met measurable improvements in travel distance, patient visibility, and decreased interruptions. Through this process, the new patient tower provides a framework for future growth.
About the Touchstone Awards
Sponsored by The Center for Health Design, the Touchstone Awards recognize the use of evidence-based design in increasing value of healthcare projects. A panel of industry experts representing academia, healthcare, architecture, and research reviewed the submissions based on three touchstones of the EBD process: Collaborate, Evaluate, and Share.
The Touchstone Awards will be presented at the Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in San Antonio, Texas, October 8 – 11, 2022. For more information, visit the Touchstone Awards.
Previous HGA Touchstone Awards
HGA is a multiple winner of previous Touchstone Awards, taking top honors several years running. For more information, review our award-winning research.