Healthcare is a rapidly evolving field, a fact that’s true for both human medicine and veterinary medicine. Treatments, technology, and scientific understanding are growing and changing all the time, and here at DESCCO Design and Construction, we see that innovation reflected in the way that construction changes for medical and veterinary buildings!
Healthcare construction is a complicated, specialized field, but our team at DESCCO has seen it all, and we pride ourselves on the expertise that we offer our customer, and the finger that we keep on the pulse of this fast-paced industry! Design and construction trends in healthcare change rapidly, but we like to keep up on what’s new and what’s working so that we can help our clients to create the best, most functional spaces they can have! These are some of the hottest and most innovative new design trends in healthcare and veterinary construction today.
Patient-Centered Design
Traditional medical care is changing to be more patient-centered today than ever before, and that’s something that has become strongly reflected in the design of medical facilities, from doctors offices to hospitals. This design principle combines the needs of a busy medical space with the needs of the individual patients who pass through it, creating a space that is calming and welcoming while also being functional for the doctors, nurses, and other staff who work there.
This can cover everything from choosing warm, comforting lights in waiting rooms as opposed to harsh fluorescents to designing layouts with minimal stairs and accessibility features like elevators and braille signs to help disabled patients find their way around more independently. Patient-centered design steps away from putting the provider’s needs first, and focuses on giving patients a space where they can heal, get well, and prioritize their own health!
Telemedicine Spaces
The Covid-19 pandemic changed what “business as usual” looks like for the entire world, and the medical field was no exception. Telemedicine was something that was once all but unheard of– now, it’s a staple in the regular practice of healthcare professionals across the board. When telemedicine became more commonplace, doctors were having to find space wherever they could to hold professional, private meetings with their patients. Today, it’s much more common for medical facilities of all kinds to include designated areas for the telehealth side of medicine to take place!
Biophilic Design
The word “biophilic” means love of nature, and it’s often used to refer to an instinctual connection between humans and the natural world– a desire that people innately have to be closer to nature. Bringing biophilic design elements into medical construction is a major departure from the sterile, cold healthcare facilities that most of us have come to know, but that departure is a welcome one!
Biophilic design in healthcare has a patient-centered aspect of its own, focusing on bringing the natural world indoors with everything from window and skylight placement that maximizes natural light to designated areas for plants, water features, or even animal life like aquariums. By softening the harshness of traditional medical buildings to let nature in, biophilic design takes some of the stress and anxiety out of doctors offices and hospitals, turning them into places of tranquility and wellness instead!
Fear-Free Layouts
What patient-centered designs are to humans, fear-free layouts are to animals. Everyone who has ever owned a pet knows the absolute dread of the vet visit, and while there’s only so much veterinarians can do to make the strange and uncomfortable process bearable for confused animals, there’s a surprising amount that people like us here at DESCCO can do on the construction end of things .
Fear-free layouts and designs focus on eliminating sources of fear or stress for animals in veterinary offices and hospitals, and creating environments that promote calm and comfort for the patients. This covers almost everything about the way a facility is designed, from planning materials and room spacing to reduce noise to carefully choosing HVAC systems to minimize smells. Even designing exam rooms that don’t require animals to be lifted onto high, slippery tables can help to keep a pet calm and less frightened, resulting in a better experience for the animal, the owner, and the vet as well!
There’s a reason that we here at DESCCO do our best to follow trends like these and stay up to date with the latest needs of the medical and veterinary industries. At the end of the day, we’re doing more than just putting up a new building. We’re creating spaces where people and animals can feel comfortable and at ease, knowing that their health is being taken care of by qualified professionals. The way we design and build medical spaces plays a big role in that interaction, and that’s a true honor for us, and something we’ll keep taking seriously for as long as we’re still building medical facilities!
If you’re interested in more information about our medical and veterinary construction services here at DESCCO, you can contact our team today to learn more.