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Guest post by, Graeme Robertson, Global Business Development Director, Healthcare Solutions, Schneider Electric
According to the Center of Health Design, 2 of the 10 biggest trends affecting the next 10 years of healthcare facilities design are new technologies and experience architecture.
Future healthcare facilities design will leverage the advantages offered by new and emerging technologies, combined with evidence-based, patient-centered architectural and engineering design to produce better patient outcomes.
This was reinforced during the 1st Saudi Forum for Planning and Design of Hospitals, which I recently attended. Healthcare spending in Saudi Arabia has almost doubled in the last 2 years, accounting for 11.8% of the total government budget in 2012. That’s almost double Saudi Arabia’s 2008 spend of 6.3% of the total budget. Overall spending has increased to 133 billion SAR in the last 2 years, as opposed to 94 billion SAR in the previous 4 years.
During the forum, many of the world’s leading healthcare practitioners and architecture firms highlighted the need for better implementation of new technologies, as well as the effects of daylight on patient outcomes and the need for more sustainable approaches to design.
I was honored to be amongst such renowned professionals and to represent Schneider Electric with a presentation on “How an Intelligent Infrastructure Reduces Operating Costs and Improves Patient Care,” to the event organizers, the Saudi Umran Society. The presentation focused on design and implementation of an intelligent hospital infrastructure, as well as numerous case studies highlighting the real value and benefits derived from similar healthcare infrastructure solutions.
The assembled professionals were very receptive to the evidence presented, which showed that an intelligent hospital infrastructure can reduce operating costs, due to improved staff productivity, hospital energy management, and reduced average length of stay for patients. In addition, an intelligent infrastructure can improve patient care through better infection control and an improved healing environment.
Does your new healthcare facility design include an intelligent technology infrastructure? Please share your experiences in the comment field below.
