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26 Medical Construction & Design | M AY/ J U N E 2017 | MCDM AG.COM pushes people out of their comfort zones, but that's often a good sign of progress. Minnesota Health (M Health) faced all of these chal- lenges head on to help create its new Clinics & Surgery Center. Seeking to increase patient satisfaction in its new building, M Health met with current and potential patients to establish common health- care experiences they found frustrating and experiences — inside or outside health- care — they liked. This led M Health to consider infusing design strategies from other industries like retail, hospital- ity and air travel to help the building be more enjoyable and eff ective. Similarly, M Health also sought to drive stronger col- laboration in its new health center. To achieve this goal, the system engaged its staff to help defi ne the creation of a new collaborative workspace. This engagement led to more than 200 diff erent providers fi lling out an online survey to share ideas and the creation of a fully fi nished mock-up of a proposed collaboration space so users could simulate typical activities and explore possible furniture confi gurations. Ultimately, the team landed on a space that united caregiv- ers and researchers to deliver the full spectrum of care-relat- ed activities. In a bold step, M Health decided to completely do away with dedicated pri- vate offi ces in the new Clinics & Surgery Center, favoring collaborative work zones and a three-story staff lounge to drive casual staff interactions. All of these research processes and resulting spaces combine to create a new type of pro- vider workplace environment focused on choice, collabora- tion and community. "The building has off ered a new opportunity for major culture change, as we knew it would, but it is happening much faster than we imag- ined," said Mary Johnson, chief operating offi cer for M Health. Engage. Engage. Engage. Successful EBD is never executed in a vacuum. The answers health organizations need can only be surfaced by continual engagement of end users. Committing to success- ful EBD means committing to extensive engagement eff orts throughout the design process and beyond. As part of the creation of its Jacobs Medical Center, the University of California San Diego Health System anchored space development around this idea of engagement. In tandem with the design team, UC San Diego built teams and user groups comprised of staff , patients and family members to help drive the design. In total, engagement sessions included 65 user groups, 80 hospital departments, 513 user meetings and 150 design consults. Throughout the project, the team also took observation to an entirely new level, with designers seeking to better understand the experiences of doctors and surgical teams. Design leads traveled to the Cleveland Clinic with the neu- rosurgery team and witnessed surgeries in the OR, spending hours side by side the operat- ing team. Through these ex- periences, designers gained an appreciation for the technical and emotional impact of the procedures carried out by the surgical team, including the experience of speaking with the patient's family members before and after surgery. To further develop and experiment with the surgical space and processes, a mock- up site was created. A set design company was used to build 3-D foam models of op- erating rooms and equipment, allowing medical user groups to engage fi rsthand with the diff erent confi gurations and test the model space. In one instance, the birthing team recreated the INTERIORS ISSUE FOCUS New workspaces in Minnesota Health's Clinics & Surgery Center unite caregivers and researchers to deliver the full spectrum of care- related activities. Top: Areas in the St. Louis Children's Specialty Care Center are designed more as destinations for children to visit, helping inject opportunities for joy and wonder in these stressful experiences. 141,000 St. Louis Children's Specialty Care Center square footage — stlouischildrens.org 19 Specialties offered at St. Louis Children's Specialty Care Center — stlouischildrens.org