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MCDM AG.COM | M AY/ J U N E 2017 | Medical Construction & Design 27 birthing process, staging a mock delivery from start to fi nish. Multiple procedures were simulated for each space. These rooms were tested and refi ned over the course of a year and a half. "After 28 years in health- care practice, this is the best experience I have ever had," said Carlos Amato, a healthcare principal with CannonDesign who worked on the project. "The stars aligned on Jacobs Medical Center." Never generalize patient groups Another way to ensure success with EBD is to never assume all data is the same. Basing design decisions that will serve a specifi c community or type of patient off of expansive national data is often a recipe for misalignment. Instead, health organizations need to take the time to understand the specifi c challenges and realities patients face. This truth resonated with the St. Louis Children's Hospital when they created a new Children's Specialty Care Center. Knowing it wanted to best serve children rang- ing from infants to teenag- ers, SLCH conducted broad research spanning clinician engagement and a litera- ture review focused on how children interact with and perceive healthcare spaces. This eff ort further revealed to SLCH the anxiety and stress young children often feel and associate with multiple trips to healthcare environments. Informed by this research, SLCH infused its Children's Specialty Care Center with dynamic environments based on the themes of imagination and discovery that create op- portunities for play, social- ization and exploration. The different areas of the health center are designed more as destinations for children to visit, helping transform a po- tentially frightening experi- ence into one with opportuni- ties for surprise and delight. Moreover, the built environ- ment provides benchmarks and milestones in therapy areas — for example, graph- ics elements in the flooring can be used to work through mobility issues. Open just a short time, the Children's Specialty Care Center is receiving positive anecdotal feedback that indicates the design solutions have been successful. SLCH is also replicating research and inquiry techniques used for the center in new inpatient projects across its main campus. Their model of focused research is a strong guidepost for other organizations to follow. Healthcare organizations seeking to create success- ful care facilities moving forward should fully commit to Evidence-Based Design. Interior spaces and environ- ments informed by extensive research will always be more eff ective than those designed without such critical supports. There are a variety of research methods at the disposal of health systems and there's no roadmap for success. However, organizations that embed the aforementioned best practices in eff orts moving forward can position themselves for sustained success. Jocelyn Stroupe, CHID, EDAC, IIDA, ASID, is CannonDesign's director of healthcare interiors. From Top: Patient rooms in Jacobs Medical Center are equipped with iPads that can be operated from the bed, empowering the patient to customize their environment by controlling window shades and temperature, ordering meals and controlling an in-room Apple TV. > Graphic elements fi ll the St. Louis Children's Specialty Care Center to distract young patients from the stresses of healthcare. Minnesota Health: Craig Dugan; Jacobs: Christopher Barrett; St. Louis: Alise O'Brien 150 Number of therapeutic art pieces throughout Jacobs Medical Center at UC San Diego Health — health.ucsd.edu 245 Number of beds at Jacobs Medical Center at UC San Diego Health — health.ucsd.edu