Abbott Northwestern Emergency Department

Flexible Space Meets Patient Needs

Abbott Northwestern Hospital, part of the Allina Health System, is the largest private hospital in the Twin Cities. The Emergency Department had opportunities to increase flexibility and operational efficiencies to meet patient demand and staff needs. The challenge was to do more with less space and less operational budgets while meeting growing demand.

We implemented best-in-class planning to alleviate the key issues the department was facing in two phases. The new design focuses on absorbing projected growth in the marketplace and building in flexible, standardized rooms so that patient flow could easily flex throughout the day. Patients are quickly assessed upon entry, then a more extensive triage process occurs in the rooms. Staff serve exam bays from decentralized collaborative work areas. New results waiting rooms increase the utilization of each room, particularly when the Emergency Department is at capacity.

To meet the rising need of behavioral health patients and provide departmental flexibility an “accordion” type behavioral unit was designed. Three rooms complete with a safe room with durable construction, anti-ligature accessories, and safety hardware sit within a glassed-in unit. Once the three rooms are full, the behavioral unit can increase to seven rooms simply by utilizing two sets of cross-corridor doors to secure the space. The additional four rooms can flex from a standard room to a behavioral health room by pulling a “garage door” down over the gases and sinks. This solution has been very successful for adapting to the changing census over time.

Support services, such as X-ray and CT, are located directly within the ED. Standardized material disbursement areas connect directly to materials management for ease of use by the staff and quick refills when supplies are low.

Today patient visits have grown from 45,000 to 48,000, staff are much happier, the flow is much more efficient, and the patient experience is greatly improved.