Almost every aspect of the healthcare industry can benefit from increased efficiency, from operational protocols to hospital construction.
The Four Realms of Standardization
Standardization can be fully integrated into a healthcare system's entire operations or in a more targeted manner depending on where value can be best achieved.
Operational Protocols
By standardizing operations—for example, purchasing and storing supplies—an organization can reduce spending, improve workflow, more easily cross-train staff, and streamline repairs and maintenance.
At the same time, beautiful, high-quality healthcare environments improve patient and staff experience, leading to better outcomes.
Fortunately, when it comes to healthcare design, efficiency and beauty are no longer mutually exclusive. Today's standards-based approach to design provides cost, schedule and scope certainty while delivering a consistent experience across a healthcare system's portfolio.
Less or More? What's Right For You?
Rather than the rigid kit-of-parts of old, today's approach to standardization also prioritizes flexibility. This site explains how, and illustrates which areas of a healthcare system best lends itself to standardization. It will also help you begin to answer whether less or more standardization is right for your system.
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Systems and Cost Control
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A standards-based approach can lead to increased use of prefab and modular systems. The use of these systems results in higher quality control of construction and reduced costs, and establishes an institution’s desired performance for sustainability, consumption and energy.
Space and Room Standardization
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Standardizing often-repeated rooms, like patient rooms, ED treatment, and pre- and post-surgical rooms ensures regulatory and code adherence, anticipates future change, and minimizes variation while allowing for specialty customization where needed.
The standardization of interior elements, including signage, flooring and furniture, creates a consistent patient experience across hospital locations while ensuring cost certainty.
Finishes, Furniture and Brand
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When Do Standards Make the Most Sense?
When it comes to standardization in healthcare, not all spaces are equal. Often-repeated units like patient or imaging rooms are best suited for standardization, whereas unique spaces like burn or rehab rooms may require a variation of a standard room layout to meet care requirements. The level of standardization is also determined by what standards are already in place and what is planned for the future.
Best for Standardization
Not Typically Standardized
Level of variation
Quantity of repeating units
Due to the level of repetition, these types of rooms lend themselves well to a high level of standardization.
These rooms, though still repeated throughout a hospital, require a slightly higher level of flexibility. Some elements may benefit from standardization while others may require a more custom approach.
Best for Standardization
Limited Standardization
Not Typically Standardized
Often repeated rooms like patient rooms, clean, soiled, med, nourishment, EVS and consult.
One-off departments or unique spaces such as cafés, dietary, sterile processing, materials management, pharmacy and labs.
Repeated clinical specialty rooms such as burn, BMT/protective environment, airborne infection isolation, patient gym and neuro.
These rooms are highly specialized, often with specific equipment, protocols, cleaning and code requirements and layouts, making standardization difficult (and often unnecessary).
Case Study Atrium Health
For Atrium Health in North Carolina, NBBJ spearheaded a standardization effort across six hospitals. The team was able to mitigate more than $100M of cost escalation exposure by coupling this standards-based approach with prefabrication and bulk-buy agreements.
While almost all healthcare systems can benefit from standardization, those looking to minimize variation across their portfolios—from a consumer experience, productivity, cost and/or health equity perspective—are the best candidates. To help decide what level of standardization is right for you, ask yourself:
The collaborative effort, led by NBBJ along with a consortium of four architectural and engineering firms, two program managers, and two construction managers, concentrated on the standardization of nursing units and universal inpatient rooms. Standard design guidelines and details alongside operational protocols were applied to over 800 beds systemwide. This initiative guaranteed a consistent aesthetic and functional quality for all patient rooms, transcending individual designers, firms and geographic locations.
What would we like standards to accomplish or achieve?
Are there any preconceived or baseline assumptions we should be aware of?
Once you’ve thought about your organization’s answers, we’d love to have a conversation to help you get started.
Less Standardized
More Standardized
Where do you fall on this spectrum?
What standards do we have to date? How have they worked?
Due to the level of repetition, these types of rooms lend themselves well to a high level of standardization.
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Watch the video below to learn more:
