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mcdmag.com July/August 2014 | Medical Construction & Design 43 THE IMPACT WHEN ARCHITECTURE + OPER ATIONS WORKS That impact was clear just one year later. A Modern Healthcare survey noted that 98 percent of staff liked their work environment. Questions related to working in the facility revealed a great deal of pride in the organization, Turner said. "I do believe that was because of the world-class facility. People like to work here; it's just that simple," he said. "People enjoy their work more because of the environment." PATIENT SATISFACTION AND STAFF RETENTION As the hospital began to communicate more openly with staff and use the facility to its fullest potential, the staff retention rate rose from 60 percent to 90 percent. Lower turnover corresponded with higher satisfaction for patients as well as staff. "Our patient satisfaction scores have trended up with our employ- ee satisfaction almost perfectly," Turner said. When the retention rate soared into the high 90s, staff and patient satisfac- tion scores increased into the 90s, too; previously, marks for both of these areas had been in the 20-30th percentile na- tionwide. "We say patients are second, but really it goes hand-in-hand with em- ployee satisfaction," said Turner. In fact, he said, every major metric the hospital tracks — from profi tability to patient sat- isfaction — has gone up in accordance with the staff retention rate. GOOD DESIGN = GREAT OPER ATIONS Good design means designing for great operations. Through the efforts of the in- tegrated project team the project realized Hospital walking trails connect to a local park, to integrate the grounds seamlessly into the city. Below (from left): The average travel distances between patient beds and nurse hubs are nearly a third of the industry average. Patients and staff have views to nature. The natural environment has created a focal point for the town of Flower Mound.