Analyzing the Assessment Activity

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Room Size Matters in Behavioral Health Outpatient Facilities

Importance/Relevance of Problem

Patient housing facilities have a crucial role to play in their smooth recovery, in both nursing homes and hospitals. Outpatient healthcare clinics' residential and consultation room sizes have specific standards to meet. The proposed research is justified on grounds of a growth in number of hospitalized patients requiring home care following discharge. The diverse age groups patients needing space belong to and their unique health situations (in case of patients requiring rehabilitation) make it clear that there is a need to consider spatial aspects of healthcare facilities' environment. The very same environment has to satisfy the needs of diverse clients having diverse healthcare needs, without any problems. This study will examine the maximum and minimum space needed to cater to the entire range of healthcare situations expected at a facility (Craig, Dixon, & Gannon, 2013).

Room size and size of related facilities constitutes a crucial element of facility layout as patients require space for exercising and free movement. Those recuperating from physical and motor accidents require ample space for enhancing their mobility and for physiotherapy activities. But this patient group will have different space requirements compared to those recovering from surgery. It is via patient interactions that their behavioral health is assessed as worsening or improving (Hall, 2006). Patient improvement indicates the space is ideal for similar future cases, whereas in case of worsening of patient health, a new room of a different size is recommended.

Problem Statement

Within the behavioral health context, hospitalizing a mental health patient in an enclosed space conveys a negative message. This represents a key area for concern among clients receiving consultation in rooms situated in a behavioral health center. For resolving this issue, behavioral healthcare spaces must be made patient-friendly, taking into account the fact that larger rooms are beneficial for clients needing to walk about and talk in the course of therapy sessions. Moreover, these sessions may also include family members, translators, or patient advocates. Thus, comfortably accommodating the many potential parties who may attend a therapeutic session is important (Miller, 2016).

Doctors at larger behavioral health centers also consider conducting sessions outdoors, for promoting the positive energy derived from the atmosphere. Another important point to bear in mind is the need for visibility into individual and group therapy rooms, for ensuring timely warnings reach staff members in case any threatening situation or unusual movement ensues. Sound dampening to a particular degree is desirable to maintain confidentiality. However, the walls should not block raised voices from reaching outside, as this would prevent quick and timely action if threatening situations arise (Miller, 2016). This change will promote an ideal balance between physicians, clients, and the facility, to ensure healthy and safe patient outcomes. Currently, a team comprising of stockholders, facility administrators, and physicians has been meeting up to deliberate on the quantity of funds required for effecting this change and devise a step-wise plan. Concerned parties will examine and evaluate every activity after the finalization of the above plan in the final preparatory phase.

Summary of Literature Review

Appraisals of facility, state and federal programs aimed at improving care continuity for highly vulnerable aged persons reveal that increased accessibility of community-based, short-term care services to manage severe spells of chronic ailment would probably be valuable. These research works' findings succeed in informing transitional community-based care model designs in the U.S. Transitional care covers a wide array of environments and facilities aimed at promoting timely, safe transition of patients from one healthcare level to another, and from one care setting to another. Superior quality care proves particularly important for aged individuals suffering from multiple chronic diseases and engaged in complex therapy. It benefits their familial caregivers as well. Such patients are normally delivered care by multiple providers and are moved repeatedly within a given healthcare setting. A growing literature pool indicates that this patient group is especially susceptible to breakdowns when in care; therefore, it is most in need of transitional care (Coleman et al., 2004). Inefficient "handoff" of this group of aged patients and members of their family to home after discharge from hospital has been associated with adverse events, high rate of re-hospitalization, and dissatisfaction with care received (Naylor & Keating, 2009).

Considering the great proportion of aged individuals who are administered care by Medicare-certified agencies for home healthcare, it is logical to expect a few patients to experience a path of decline. Because of normal aging as well as frequent occurrence of pathological processes with age, the ability of some older patients to perform everyday activities will decrease, even if they receive superior quality care. Therefore, one inherent aim of home-based healthcare is supporting patients in this phase.

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A patient who fails to display clinical indications of recovery may, nevertheless, be delivered quality care which leads to improvement in his/her quality of life or a deceleration in decline. This is in line with the claim made by the American Nurses Association, that promotion of ideal health levels of patients is a reasonable home healthcare aim (Ellenbecker, Samia, Cushman, & Alster, 2008).

Structure/facility design, together with its moveable and immovable elements, is capable of significantly impacting human performance, particularly the safety and health of facility staff, clients, and their families. Researchers who reviewed over 600 papers discovered that a link existed between physical hospital environment (for instance, multi-bed or single-bed rooms for in-patients) and staff (for instance, greater healthcare delivery effectiveness and decreased fatigue and stress) and patient outcomes (for instance, improved care quality and reduction in occurrence of adverse events). Efforts at improving staff and patient outcomes can aim at latent conditions by making use of evidence-based distraction-reducing designs, standardizing supplies and equipment locations, and ensuring sufficient space is devoted to work and documentation areas. Leape's (1994) and Reason's (1997) studies explain the significance of practices founded on principles aimed at compensating for humanity's cognitive failings. Hence, when employed in healthcare, ergonomic research (defined as a research area that encompasses human performance, human-computer interactions, and technology design), which has highlighted a need to standardize, simplify, and utilize checklists and protocols, may be applied in improving healthcare outcomes of patients (Reiling, Hughes, & Murphy, 2008).

Improvements can be brought about in patient safety through targeting of human factors, using facility design, as well as minimizing cognitive failures and latent conditions that result in adverse events. This necessitates a complex approach, which includes development of a sound safety culture, restructuring of facilities or systems together with their technology and equipment, concentrating on cognitive error elimination, and facilitating prevention or correction of errors by caregivers before they cause harm, or mitigate any harm that results (Reiling, Hughes, & Murphy, 2008).

Research Questions

1. How is safety measured and impacted by built environment?

1. What are the factors influencing patient comfort in the behavioral health center?

1. What facility design can be employed for making sure client groups aren't locked?

Methodology to be Used

For formulating possible design guidelines which, at this juncture, are more of design suggestions than evidence-based, well-documented recommendations, researchers looked for a structure wherein the literature's implications could be categorized. Partly utilizing the model created by the ADG (Active Design Guidelines) (NYC, 2010) endeavor, researchers came up with strategies concentrating on evidence-based support. ADG defines strong evidence as plans corroborated by proof from no less than 5 cross-sectional or 2 longitudinal researches, and the term emerging evidence as strategies validated by a research pattern (Shepley & Pasha, 2013).

The research will also employ behavior mapping and interviewing. Saegert and Holahan (1973) discovered substantially less isolated and more socializing passive behavior within a freshly remodeled space compared to a control location. In addition, patients exhibited more positive attitudes towards their new space. A subsequent research used behavioral mapping to analyze the effect of remodeling of a unit, involving modifications in the following aspects: power distribution, staff roles, and social systems of wards, patient behavior, and communication (Shepley & Pasha, 2013).

Implications of the Expected Findings

Increasing literary works in the field are supporting evidence-based designs for new facilities and renovations of existing ones. The newly-developed evidence-based design sphere has surfaced in an era characterized by a boom in healthcare construction. Various workplace factors impact work satisfaction and care delivery -- these ought to be integrated into designs. A study suggests a need for modification of care processes for dealing with inefficiencies resulting from distractions (for instance, family members), extremely busy work conditions, misplaced equipment, delays in accessing necessary resources (such as, supplies, medicines, medical equipment, and patient electronic medical records), and delays in medical order delivery (Reiling, Hughes, & Murphy, 2008).

Built environment impacts will most probably increase through concurrent efforts towards changing organizational functionality and culture, in addition to care delivery processes. This, however, needs to be corroborated by future research. As much of available research on this subject has been performed in specific hospital units, investigating whether similar impacts may occur in general outpatient (offices, clinics, etc.) and medical-surgical settings….....

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