Design

It seems this phenomena or catch phrase was dreamt up by Dr Marty Becker – a veterinarian who has written many books and teaches at Veterinary Colleges across the country.  Interestingly, this terminology has began to filter world-wide.  So what is Fear Free Veterinary Design? And how does it effect a Vet Fit out?      

What is the Fear Free Concept?

This concept is fairly straight forwards – it’s practicing veterinary medicine whilst reducing the feelings of stress and anxiety in animal patients.  This concept has a springboard effect and makes the experience for vet, owner and staff a better experience.

Colours and Neuroscience – The Veterinary Design Phase

The idea of fear-free veterinary design encapsulate a wide array of ideas. Most interestingly, the use of lighting and colours in animal neuroscience. To understand this, we need to appreciate that the colours we see as humans differs from that of our pets.  It is a common misconception that dogs’ eyes are free from colour. In reality humans and dogs can see similar colour palettes.  Dogs can see 510 to 590 nanometers or wavelengths and can identify colours between green to orange.

Interestingly, with the use of colour palates similar to the below – we can design veterinary clinics with a calming design. 

Designing a vet fit out using mild colour palate similar to the above can go a long way to provide a stress-free animal care environment.  Light muted blues and greens in an exam room is a great low-stress vet fit out idea. 

Lighting in Vet Design – Veterinary Clinic Calming Design

As with humans, animals will respond better to ‘natural lighting’ or ‘day lighting’.  Accordingly, during the veterinary design phase it’s important to remember that an easy solution to lighting is to source as much natural light as possible.  Thankfully, natural light is also free and is a sustainable way as a lighting solution.  Skylights, large windows and solar tubes will provide natural light where possible.

There will be areas where natural light is not possible.  In these situations it is important to ensure any artificial light to have dimmable switches.  Muted light sources in recovery rooms can help to promote stress-free animal care environment.

As a side note: it is believed that the buzz from fluorescent lights can be heard by a lot of animals.  These lights have been banned from Veterinary Clinics in Australia some years ago (allowed in storage only) but we do find many older clinics are still using fluorescent lights – accordingly, this is a simple solution for older clinics to create a lower stress environment for their animals.

Waiting Areas – Animal Behavior Clinic Design

The design of a low-stress vet fit out would usually focus on a couple key ideas.  

1. Short wait times

2.Separation of species and space

The way animals communicate their stress or fear it often very evident and sometimes not as evident.  The more subtle ways animals display their stress is tense face, tight lips, tucked under tail, dilated pupils.  The more visible ways animals show their fear is snarling, barking, growling hiding and cowering.  Our goal to achieve a stress-free animal care environment is to reduce these behaviors.

Some clinics ask patients to remain in their cars until the veterinarian is ready to have them go straight into the consulting room.  Some vet clinics are introducing doors that go direct into the consulting room from the car park (this idea can cause other problems so it’s important to consider the viability of this idea).

A fear free veterinary design to help separate animals is designing stalls with 3 sides above waist height to create a barrier.  If your vet fit out has room available for this idea it can be a game changer.

Other things to consider for Stress-free animal care environments

The use of stainless steel tables has its purpose…..scratch resistant and bacteria resistant, but we all know that the animal can not get traction and it’s a slippery slope.  Some clinics are laying yoga mats on the consult table to provide a warmer secure experience.  These yoga mats are continually washed in larger washing machines or disposed of as they begin to look unruly.

Dog enclosures should not have animal neighbors looking at one another.  This certainly increases stress and anxiety in animals.  A Veterinary clinic calming design would encapsulate a sensible approach to housing animals overnight to ensure anxiety is kept to a minimum.

Conclusion – Fear-free Veterinary Design

If you are considering a new construction or a vet fit out, do not overlook any idea that promotes a more healthy environment for all stakeholders, the animal, veterinarian, owner and staff.  Achieving a low stress vet fit out through smart waiting room design, lighting and colour palates can reduce stress in animals.

Fear free design is a new idea and is gaining traction through the veterinary world.  Achieving a calmer veterinary environment, takes effort, but the rewards are plentiful.

For veterinary Clinic calming designs and animal behaviour clinic designs to reduce animal stress – Chat with one of our design experts today phone (03) 9532 0350.

The 2020s COVID experience has been credited as the driving force behind the rise of the ‘super clinic’ or the multi-discipline clinic that we know today. 

Around this time the delivery of medical expertise began to change and we saw construction and renovation of larger spaces that provided for the delivery of allied healthcare under one roof.  This is now commonly called co-located health services. 

 

Multi-disciplinary clinic design

The idea of combining allied health under one roof presents challenges, in particular during the  design phase.  The architect or designer must have extensive skills and knowledge in regards to medical design, dental Design, allied health design and pharmacy design and any other specialist heath professional.     The designer must have experience in designing co-located healthcare services and shared practice layout solution to achieve a sensible wholistic healthcare approach.

The challenge is not always designing a successful co-located clinic design on paper, but the real challenge is to ensure the layout is rewarding for all stakeholders.  The success of a multi-disciplinary clinic design is in the clinic works in practice. 

High on the priority is a smooth patient flow experience from one health provider to another.  It is critical to ensure the patient has a rewarding and empowering experience.

Further, a successful co-located clinic requires a smart design to ensure employees workspaces allow them to perform their duties in a harmonious and efficient manner.  Further it is important that the Shared practice layout ensures a smooth transition between workspaces.

When considering requirements of professional staff, a successful multi-disciplinary clinic design must ensure all tools of trade are at arms-length and to ensure all facilities are ergonomic.  A safe workplace is critical to the success of a shared practice layout.  

To design a successful Integrated medical-dental design will require most investors to partner with an experienced designer who has worked in co-located healthcare practices.    

 

Reasons behind the rise in Co-located Healthcare / shared practice layout.

Patient Convenience

Probably the biggest driving force in the rise of multi-discipline clinic design is convenience for the patient.  Humans prefer simple and familiar experiences.  The thought being, once a patient is familiar with a location they are more likely to return.  

In short, once a patient visits your clinic the retention rate is high. Accordingly, offering a wide range of healthcare solutions under one roof would be seen as a factor to retain patients and attract new ones.

 

Healthcare Co-ordination

Having allied health providers under one roof can allow for better clinician communication.  Integrating doctors, nurses, specialists, allied health providers and other health professionals can help provide better more timely healthcare advice and aftercare.

 

Operational Efficiencies

Shared staff and shared facilities reduce costs.  The cost of a medical fit out with offering shared services is lower for each investor ie the same toilet is used by patients waiting for dental practitioner and psychology patients.  The same reception desk is used by staff welcoming dietitian patients and physiotherapist patients. Sharing the cost of infrastructure can reduce costs. 

 

Holistic Vision

The patient will see a patient centered clinic – with a variety of healthcare providers are all under one roof.   This can reduce stress and anxiety in patients knowing the healthcare location they attend offers a variety of healthcare solutions.

 

Faster Diagnosis

There can be instant cross-referral with healthcare providers under the same roof.  Often results and diagnosis can be achieved at a faster return rate which can help alleviate patient concern and anxiety.

 

Cost-effective design and construction for ROI

Combining health care providers under one roof can reduce the costs by sharing resources, overheads and infrastructure costs which allows for a better return on investment.

 

Challenges of Group clinic fit outs

Confidentiality and Privacy

Whilst a benefit of a group clinic fit out is the ease of communication and sharing information, it can also be seen as a challenge to ensure patient data is not compromised.

 

Space Design

As noted above there is specialised skill involved in designing a shared space for different healthcare providers. This challenge is real and can not be dismissed. To achieve practical success and a seem-less flow in a co-located healthcare environment It would be prudent to ensure you partner with a qualified co-located design specialist to navigate the challenge.

 

Governance

The requirement for each healthcare provider to abide by legislation and government obligations can cause conflict in funding, clinic layout and design. Again, this challenge can be minimised by the use of a specialist designer with collocated healthcare design experience.

 

What does the future look like for co-located shared healthcare environments?

Sometimes these questions are hard to answer.  And sometimes the answers are already in plain sight.  Knowing that the ‘super clinic’ is already in operation and seeing the success we would have to assume this model will continue to impress.  Accordingly, the future of Integrated medical-dental design combining various different healthcare designs like Medical Design, dental design, and allied healthcare design seems to be here to stay.  The trend in the rise of the super clinic looks like it will continue.

 

Where to next?

If you are considering a medical fit out with co-located design, it is important to ensure you partner with a qualified designer and builder to ensure the planning and layout is efficient and practical.  If you would like to chat to one of our designers, please phone us for an obligation free discussion on 03 9532 0350.

Mistakes to Avoid in Healthcare Construction

Every step taken during Healthcare Construction is a step closer to success or further from success. Whether you are undertaking Dental Construction, Medical Construction, Veterinary Construction or other Healthcare Construction, it is critical to ensure each step is planned to precision. Forethought and attention to detail is a skill that cannot be underestimated – let’s therefore, look at some of the critical steps and how to best navigate them to avoid costly medical construction mistakes and clinic renovation pitfalls.

Insufficient Budget

Usually, your first point of call would be with your financial advisor/accountant. Before you even think about any project, ensure you have sufficient budget. Where are the funds coming from? Private savings, Private Investors, Line of Finance? What is the cost and return on investment? Alone, to obtain solution to these two questions can cost thousands even before the project starts.

Solution: Ensure you partner with an experienced financial advisor who can accurately create a project budget. Also, ensure you have sufficient budget to invest into financial spreadsheets before the project commences. Ensure your budget looks at capital investments, cash flows, return on investments etc. These budgets, if accurate from a financial standpoint, will dictate whether the project will go ahead or not.

Inexperienced Partners

One thing we know about successful construction projects is to have the right stakeholders in place to ensure a wide range of knowledge is consulted. Not one person or group knows how to run a construction project from start to finish getting everything correct. Using inexperienced Builders or Project Managers is a recipe for disaster. Fit-out errors and medical construction mistakes can cause a project to fail. Ensuring the project adheres to all legal requirements to pass the Certificate of Occupancy first time is very important to adhering to the budget. Making errors at the design phase can cost huge amounts and can be the downfall of the project before it even starts.

Solution: Ensure you involve qualified stakeholders from the start. Ensure your Medical Builders and Project Management Team have years of medical experience under their belt. Experienced Medical Construction builders understand compliance issues and will ensure the project is built satisfying all legal requirements to ensure the Certificate of Occupancy is granted first time.

Design Mishaps

The design phase is critical to the success of the project. Fit-out errors at the design phase are errors that could be avoided. Too many times investors will use a design team that have never had medical construction experience previously. They will design a lavish array of beautiful architecture without due thought for the practical design. Often calling up materials inappropriate for medical environments and will more often than not design a project well over budget.

Solution: Consider engaging a design and construction builder. These specialist builders have a design team experienced in designing medical environments to a client’s budget. Then the experienced construction team takes over to build the project to budget. These design and construction specialists understand the complexities of medical environments.

Inflexible Design

Medical design is changing rapidly. We have seen over the last 40 years, the progression of repurposing domestic houses into medical centers… transitioning to the mega clinic which offers a wide range of medical specialists… remote health services and open plan medical facilities. Having an outdated medical design can be a factor in patient attrition. Patients these days are more educated and demand up-to-date technology.

Solution: Future proof your medical design. Ensure you partner with a design team that has skills to plan for future medical trends. Ensure the construction project has sufficient space to expand or repurpose rooms to suit emerging medical requirements.

The Technology Challenge

The forever-changing technology environment can be difficult to comprehend. Even more challenging is understanding how to keep up with the changes. Misjudging future trends can be costly. Patients will find themselves navigating to clinics offering up-to-date equipment. Clinic renovation pitfalls involving out-of-date technology can lead to expensive refits and investments at a later date.

Solution: Do your research. Check overseas technology trends. Understand where technology is heading in your medical field. Engage specialists to help identify technology and medical equipment that is critical to show patients that you care about their health.

Not Allowing for the Unforeseen

Unforeseen issues can cause high blood pressure and anxiety. Unforeseen issues can be costly and can delay a project’s completion date. In every project, there will always be challenges. What you would like to avoid are any dental construction issues, veterinary clinic construction errors, or medical construction delays that could cost time and money. Time delays and variations can be costly and unfortunately, the investor/s usually bears the cost.

Solution: Be realistic. Roadblocks, variations, problems, and challenges will occur in every job. When this happens, you will be happy that your budget had allowance for time delays and other mishaps. Don’t sweat the small stuff and if you have engaged the correct builder, they will lead from the front finding solutions.

In the end, the success of your project lies in your hands. Have you considered the list of medical construction mistakes? Have you engaged experienced medical builders, completed your research, and ensured your budget is sufficient to complete the project to plan? Do you understand the future technology challenge? Have you allowed for roadblocks?

All these questions will require an answer to ensure that you avoid a few construction pitfalls and mistakes.

Here at Clinics by Design, we would love to chat with you about your Medical Construction, Dental Construction, or Veterinary Construction. Call us today.

 

If you have a current practice and you are considering investing capital into a new clinic fitout or if you are thinking about a new-build there are many aspects to consider before jumping knee deep in debt.

One of the first points of call will be to your financial advisor.  Consider the cost of debt, consider the opportunity cost of investing capital into this venture versus another.  Consider your return on Investment.  Consider your age and your retirement plan.  All of these things are items high on the agenda to consider before proceeding.

One the critical aspects to determine if your practice will be successful is patient retention and strong patient retention strategies that will be a cornerstone to success.

Building Trust

Retaining patients sounds easy but in practice it can be a hit and miss.  Sometimes, the only time you might realise that your practice is in the midst of patient attrition is when the doctors are not 100% booked out in advance. When this occurs it is already too late – the horse has bolted and the chances of getting the patient to return can be a challenge.

How to build trust that impacts patient retention?

Latest Healthcare Design Trends

An easy way to build patient trust is to keep up to date with the latest healthcare design trends.  This might involve investing capital into new x-ray machines or other hero pieces of equipment that is at the cutting edge. If you are building a medical practice from the ground up, then the medical practice design ideas in the planning stage can be instrumental in future proofing your practice with the latest technology. Show casing the latest Healthcare design trends can lead patients to believe they are in good hands.

 

Medical Clinic Builders

Very few investors whether they are doctors, investors or other have the skill set to understand the challenges that arise during a medical fit out or new build.  Understanding the legislative requirements, to design a clever layout with limited wasted space or to manage the construction is a task that only Medical Clinic Builders can undertake.  Medical Clinic Builders are in the business of building and renovating medical practices……this isn’t their first rodeo.They have built clever intel over the years to ensure the renovation or new build runs as smooth as possible.  A clever dental clinic design where the patient feels comfortable is a huge factor in patient retention.

Patient Experience

Investing time and money into staff training to ensure patients receive warm, friendly and educated interactions is a big factor in patient retention.  Limiting waiting times, ensuring the practice is clean and providing comfortable seating areas are all factors that affect the patient’s decision as to whether they stay or look elsewhere.  An example, in a veterinary practice it is important to have separate areas where humans can move with their pets away from others. These Veterinary clinic design ideas help make patients and their carers’ feel more at ease and will be a good experience hence impacting patient retention.

Patient Convenience

Living in the 2020s, we know most of us have a telephone that is part of our anatomy.  Accordingly, offering online bookings, and sms reminders are key factors that affect patient experience.  Some clinics now days offer telehealth appointments.  We also find that clinics are finishing later to cater for the workforce. We are finding that these types of patient retention strategies are fairly successful for patient retention numbers.

Feedback

Its critical to ask for patient feedback and to act on it.  Ask patients for feedback about your veterinary clinic design ideas, ask them about staff interaction, ask them about their overall experience.  If your patients take the time to respond, then it is most important that your practice listens.  Often feedback forms tell you what other patients are thinking.  This can be valuable in attrition rates.

Consistency

Consistency in everything you do is hugely important in retaining patients.  People like to know what to expect…. very similar to the McDonalds marketing strategy of “being the same world wide”.  Patients who know what to expect and receive it are more likely to be loyal.  Ensure your branding is familiar, ensure your staff approach is similar, ensure there are no surprises…  this will help with patient retention.

Be Human

With the increase in AI and technology we all still like to experience human interaction.  If your practice has automated SMS reminders, then it might be a good idea if a reception staff follow up patients who might have had treatment the day prior with a telephone call.  These human interactions are received well and show patients their wellbeing is important. 

These patient retention strategies noted above are just a few.  Every medical practice can introduce their own medical practice design ideas or veterinary clinic design ideas or even dental clinic design ideas to encourage patent loyalty.  There are a plethora of ideas that your clinic could introduce to encourage patient retention.

Sometimes I wonder if the world has gone mad. Has the role of research created a level of anxiety in all of us? What really matters in a medical fit out? We know that a well laid out clinic design is pivotal in a successful practice, we know location and up to date technology also impacts the success of a clinic… so today we are considering – what role does the colour palate play in healthcare design?

Research shows that colour does have a significant impact on human wellbeing. Different colours can subconsciously evoke a range of emotions. Colour can affect moods and cognitive performance. Accordingly, your clinics colour palate should be a high priority during the design phase.

Let’s have a look at the basics – what does research show about colour on our wellbeing?

BLUE

Blue is a trustworthy colour – it exhibits stability, tranquillity and calm. We relate this to the sky – its forever a constant in our lives. Accordingly, blue tones promote a sense of calm and relaxation. Blue tones are very suited to psychology offices where patients respond best when relaxed.

GREEN

Green has a major connection with nature. Signifying harmony and renewal. Green tones contribute to a harmonic environment… also an environment that promotes healing and regrowth. Green tones are very well suited to most medical fit outs.

RED

Red is a strong colour. Many sporting clubs resonate red with a winning combination. It exudes energy and fire. Red is a trigger colour that stimulates an increased heart rate, it grabs attention and stimulates alertness. Red can stimulate action and progression. But be careful as red can also trigger anxiety. Proceed with caution if you are thinking of red as a hero colour in your medical fit out.

YELLOW

Yellow triggers images of the sun and is seen as a happy colour. It stimulates joy and peace within. Yellow can trigger feelings of euphoria and general wellbeing and is known to be an ‘up lifting colour’ to brighten your mood. We find yellow tones and other ‘happy; colours are often used in children’s medical fit outs like paediatricians and speech pathologist specialising in children to create childlike happiness and joy.

ORANGE

Orange like the fruit is a playful colour that is energetic at its core. Orange stimulates creativity and warmth. We see orange can stimulate communication and social interactions.

WHITE

White symbolises clean and crisp. It is a refreshing and honest colour. We see predominant white wall designs in medical fit outs and dental fitouts .White is very high in the colour palate in most healthcare design..

NEUTRAL COLOURS i.e. Beige and Greys

Another very stable colour palate. Neutral colours are sophisticated yet grounded. The beige colour palate is related to nature and will inspire quiet and relaxed environments. Many medical fit outs will run down a Neutral Colour palate to create a relaxed patient mood.

THE IMPACTS ON USERS:

Subconsciously, colour does affect most people, therefore the colour palate you choose will impact your staff and patients. Taking a more in-depth look, we can see the impact of colour on:

STAFF PERFORMANCE

High on the priority is staff performance. Your workplace should elude balanced colour that are not overstimulating to ensure an optimal working environment. This helps to eliminate visual fatigue. We suggest you keep away from bright bold colours in staff zones. For example, in a dental fitout, you might consider a neutral palate with a green undertone to inspire staff to work at their optimal.

PATIENT EXPERIENCE

Consider calming earth-like colours like, blues, greens whites and neutrals in patient areas. These colours promote feelings of safety and healing. They can help reduce stress and anxiety and can even lower patient’s blood pressure. Consider adding a few warm colours like muted yellows, peach etc to add a feeling of friendliness and nurturing.

NAVIGATION

Bright colours that contrast can help patients find their way. If patients do not know their way around your practice, they will look for visual help. Signs that stand out will attract their attention and provide a level of comfort to the patient.

BRANDING

Choose colours that reflect your vision. Practices that specialise in children may choose brighter colours for branding to feel childlike and friendly, yet a dental fit out might re-brand themselves using a neutral or blue palate to elude trustworthiness and cleanliness.

As colour has a direct impact on peoples moods, please ensure you consider the colour palate and the impacts on your stakeholders during your healthcare design phase.

We would suggest you partner with a medical design specialist to ensure the impact of colour on your medical fit out is considered to the fullest.

First and foremost, it is most important to understand is that each project is different. There will not be a ‘one price fits all’ in any dental fit out. Each project has differing factors that affect the cost of a Dental Practice renovation. Namely, Location, site access, size of the practice, the technology wish list, personal aesthetic preferences, work safe requirements and so much more.

The idea to fit out or renovate your dental practice is usually a decision that has been brewing for a while. Potentially your current practice is poorly laid out and patient flow is affected. Maybe your current practice is looking tired, and you aren’t quite as proud of it anymore. Potentially a new practice has popped up down the road and you are losing patients to your competitor – these are common factors that help consolidate the decision to proceed with a dental fit out.

Therefore, most investors/owners/dentists want to know where the money is being spent and to have a budget figure in their head of how much a dental clinic design and renovation will cost.

In short, here is a guide to help you understand the costs of a dental practice renovation: Please note: these costs are round figures only and are dependent on the size of the practice, site access, wish lists, preferences and current condition of the shell.

Dental Clinic Design – $30,000 to $150,000

The process would begin with an initial consultation… where your vision is detailed. You colour pallet explored and your wish list tabled. The design phase has the designers and project managers visiting site to fully understand the challenge. Further, using cutting edge technology the design team will develop a dental office layout using 3D renders and drawings. Once these plans are approved, the design phase enters construction phase.

Dental Equipment – $100,000 to $300,000

Investment in quality dental equipment during a dental fitout is critical to the success of the renovation. Up to date dental equipment demonstrates to patients that your dental practice takes their health seriously. From experience, we have realised that patient confidence is directly related to up-to-date equipment and chair side manners.

Furniture and Fittings – $20,000 to $150,000

A complete Dental Fitout Melbourne or Dental Fitout Sydney might involve some or all furniture. We find that most renovations will replace full joinery etc in treatment rooms as a minimum. In the case where all joinery is replaced throughout the entire dental practice, then the budget would be toward the higher end noted above.

Plumbing and Electrical Work – $30,000 to $100,000

Legislation has changed over time and what would have passed legislation in the past will not suffice today. Today body protection is a must. These sorts of additional electrical requirements add cost to the bottom line.

IT and Software – $10,000 to $50,000

Investment into Practice Management software, cyber safety and 3D printing machines are all very costly yet compulsory for business owners to consider.

Regulatory Requirements – $20,000 to $150,000

Stringent regulatory requirements are a necessary investment. Acts like the Disability Discrimination Act further adds costs to a Dental fitout. The DDA requirements makes it against the law for a public place to be inaccessible to a person with a disability. Hence ramps and elevators might be required as an alternative or addition to stairs.

Other Things to think about

Leasing vs outright purchase

The outright purchase of a renovation has a higher initial investment but can have cost-effective long-term returns. Your accountant or tax professional can discuss immediate write offs, depreciation and other Australian Taxation Office allowances. They can also prepare a cost/benefit analysis for consideration of leasing versus outright purchase.

Other Cost Saving Tips

Many suppliers offer discounts for bulk orders
Adjust your expectations and commit to mid-level finishes.
Budget adjustments can be made by removing non-essential fixtures and fittings.

How long does the dental fitout take?

Most dental fitouts Melbourne and Dental Fitouts Sydney take 3 to 9 months to complete. There are opportunities for dental clinics to remain open whilst renovations are occurring yet for more in-depth renovations the clinic might require closing.

Final Words.

Regardless, one of the most important starting points to any dental practice renovation is to get your budget right. Understand the costs, your wish list, the finished product and the path to get there. Ensure you invest your time partnering with specialist accountants and tax advisors and also ensure you partner with a specialist medical construction and fitout company.

The key to your success is the time you put into planning.

The idea of ‘open plan design’ refers to a layout where physical barriers are kept to a minimum.  Over time we have seen the domestic home be designed as ‘open plan’, then it was introduced in new schools – now in the 2020’s, we see this idea rolling out in the medical arena.

In this article we will delve into the ideas behind why medical clinic design is now favoring the open plan layout.

Personalised Interiors:

Investors and owners nowadays are better educated.  With the introduction of the internet and google, stakeholders are now more informed and better prepared for what they wish to be the outcome.  Through simply searching topics like ‘healthcare facility design’ or ‘medical clinic architecture’ an enormous amount of information will be available.  At the touch of the button there will be case studies, medical clinic photos and medical clinic design layouts to sift through to get ideas and stimulate a dream. 

Increasingly stakeholders are looking for design ideas to differentiate their medical practice.  Showing innovation in your medical centre design can show that you care about your patients’ health.  Using intelligent branding ideas that reflect your practice can play a big role in resonating with patients.  Unique colour schemes or bold artwork can help your practice to be memorable to patients.

Flexible open plan layouts:

One huge benefit of the open plan layout is the ability for the space to have flexible purpose.  To reconfigure a space quickly and easily can benefit patients.  Adding a portable barrier like a partition medical staff could easily perform simple patient tasks like mass immunisations.  We saw this happen during covid in 2020 and 2021 with pop up medical facilities.  

We find shared spaces are being used in hospital interior design also.  The physiotherapist and the psychologist or any other allied health specialist can share desks and offices without issue.  The only characteristic required for this to function as required is human respect for others.  But the benefit of allied health working closely is to benefit the patient.  Knowing what the patient is going through with other health specialists will promote understanding and compassion.

 

Aesthetics:

Open plan medical clinic designs encourage the use of natural light to flow through the entire premises.  The removal of walls and doors enables light to be far-reaching.  In a recent vet clinic design, one particular design idea was to bring the outside in.  The idea was to ensure that any animal in the waiting room together with recovering animals to feel embraced in greenery in an attempt to sooth and create a relaxed environment. 

Further open plan designs for hospital layout planning, or even the smaller medical clinic design can reduce costs ie electricity and heating using mother natures sun to help light and heat the premises.   Traditional medical designs struggled with air-flow.  The open design alleviates any stagnant air.

Staff benefits:

There are many operational benefits to open plan medical centre designs. 

Improved workflow increases efficiencies. Open plan designs allow for better visibility and communication between staff.  In turn this can help reduce delays and boost productivity.  Traditional medical clinic architecture designs promoted isolated working environment with patient flow being affected.

Open plan healthcare facility design encourages staff to be accountable for their time.  There is no hiding enhancing productivity. 

Hip Pocket

Open plan designs can be helpful to your budget.  Using modular furniture – the cost can be less hefty.  With fewer walls, heating/cooling ducts, and doors can improve the overall cost of construction.  As an example, we see hospital interior design using moveable partitions to separate areas.  This can be a sensible solution enabling fast adjust times to pressing medical/patient needs. 

Further with shared utilities ie each room does not require heating and cooling the overall running costs can also be reduced.

In short:

Open plan medical centre design is excellent for high through-put clinics like urgent care and bulk billed clinics wanting to increase productivity and patient flow.  Accordingly, if you are considering an open plan design for your next medical clinic design be sure to engage a specialist medical design company.

The ongoing evolution of healthcare spaces continues to grow. The challenge now is how to design intelligent, functional, empathetic and sustainable patient-centric facilities.

In theory this sounds achievable, but in practice, with fast changing technology, increase in patient needs/desires, and constraint in budgets, to achieve the end game, you might need to consider healthcare design specialists during the design phase.

Let’s look at some emerging trends.

Technology Advancements

It’s a no-brainer to assume that technology will continue to drive change in the Healthcare arena.  New age phrases like ‘touchless healthcare design’ and ‘sustainable clinic design’ are being thrown around. Ideas like these will only be relevant with technology advancement.

These ideas leverage advancements like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Big Data to create ideas for new medical clinic designs.

Technology driven clinic fitouts will be the norm in 2025. The design will centre around how to improve patient flow, work processes, patient turnaround time and staff and patient satisfaction.  The technology advancement will play right into the hands of healthcare design specialists. These specialist companies will have a head start in understanding the end game through their unique understanding of the medical industry. Healthcare interior design firms will have the know-how to lay the foundations to future proof the design of your medical environment.

How can Nature contribute?

Another new age term being bounced around is Biophilic Design. This is where nature takes center stage. Weaving nature, serenity and design to achieve an environment where the healing benefits of nature are appreciated. New medical clinic designs should prioritise natural light, greenery and soothing sounds to enhance the healing benefits of nature. New medical practice design ideas must incorporate such ideas to future proof their practice.

These ideas are already being rolled out in medial environments with hanging gardens, abundant potted plants and indoor water features. This sustainable clinic design is key to a calmer more patient-centered environment.

Other ideas for new medical practice design ideas should encompass and support the restorative abilities of biophilic design to promote healing in the design phase.

Multifunctional Spaces.

Adaptability. The idea behind future proofing medical spaces to be flexible and reactive. This idea encompasses an approach where medical spaces should be tailored to meet patient needs rather than the other way around. Today, healthcare design ideas are able to create a mixed-use facility to accommodate a potential shift in medical treatments as a reaction to current demand. These days offering a wide range of associated medical affiliations on different days might be a good idea. For example, a space could be utilized as a psychology space on Mondays and Tuesday and then convert to a Podiatry space on Wednesday and Thursday. These sustainable clinic ideas will be a key design idea for many new build practices.

Healthcare for all

One big idea in future medical treatment is to bring healthcare to the community. This might be through touchless healthcare design like telehealth or zoom based healthcare services. Other ideas are ‘pop up’ healthcare providers in more rural areas that might be available on a monthly basis. It might also be in the form of education where specialists train ill patients how to collect their own vital information on behalf of the healthcare provider. There are so many medical practice design ideas that can be incorporated to future proof your practice to enable access to healthcare for all.

As we head towards the middle of 2025, we can feel the pressure to design and construct the ultimate healthcare environment for all stakeholders. One that combines patient-centric ideas with sustainable presence and a decent return on investment. Please ensure you partner with a reputable healthcare design specialist to ensure you are not designing an outdated medical practice.

As an owner, investor or even a practitioner – your practice is the face you show your clients.  An outdated practice can allude to an uncaring façade which can drive patients away or at the very least show an uncaring attitude.

The balance to invest capital into a dental practice renovation using modern dental clinic designs vs the act of doing nothing can impact your bottom line.  The old saying “if you do the same thing you get the same result” is a good simile.  If your practice is losing patients and you do nothing, then your practice will continue to lose patients. 

After this occurs, the chase to get them back or to attract new patients can be a costly and lengthy challenge.

What is your dental clinic communicating to patients?

If your equipment and tools of trade are older than 20yrs then their wear and tear will tell their own story.  Patients sitting in a waiting room on 1990s chairs, stained walls, shaggy stained carpet and interior design that screams ‘I’m old’ is giving your patients every reason to find a new dental practice with an updated dental clinic design.

Although dental chairs have not changed in design a great deal, an updated dental chair is the rooms hero – a necessary piece of furniture that must be in ‘as new condition’. Patients need to feel that the chair is clean and updated for them to feel they are in good hands. 

You might be an experienced dentist with years of treatment under your belt, but if your chair and tools of trade look tired your patients will immediately lose confidence. These are reasons enough for patients to look for a new modern dental clinic.  Once patients have made the choice to seek an alternative dental practice the act of wooing them back is a difficult one.

What do your dental methods communicate to your patients?

The 2020s sees Australian’s being very health conscious. Dental health is considered important to patients.  Further, patients no longer accept waiting in long lines or waiting for extended times in the waiting room and patients expect to see a dentist at the time of their booking. Therefore, for your practice to reflect up to date methodologies is important to show your patients that your dental practice is forward thinking and proactive.  Introducing things like sms appointment reminders the day prior is now highly effective. Old practices like Reception staff pulling patient cards no longer looks clever – this is outdated and archaic.  Patients now expect digital x-rays over radiographs due to health benefits. Patients are more informed than ever before. Don’t let your outdated methods let patients walk out the door.  

For many people today, the world around us is important.  As the worlds resources are limited people now see waste as hugely unethical.  If your staff are still using outdated methods for communication and filing, you might be sending a message that is counter conductive to many values that new age patients now hold.  

Showing that your office methodologies are up to date is an easy way to retain patients.

What your style is communicating?

Consider sitting in a dental practice that was a converted house back in the 1990s.  Laminate brown chairs, dirty carpet, the receptionist sitting at the converted kitchen bench, small windows, the old gas heater still working – it’s a pretty bleak image.  An image most people won’t miss.  A dental practice like this is screaming for a dental practice renovation to bring it back alive.  For it’s heart to keep beating. 

Further, in order for dentist to work at their best they require a peaceful ambiance of neutral colours and a clean crisp environment.  Support staff require well laid out areas that enable them to perform at their best.  Patients require clean up-to-date areas that elude a calm and peaceful environment.  All stakeholders require a dental interior design that is modern and sophisticated. 

To retain patient numbers and attract new patients your dental practice façade and practice interior design must be modern and up to date.

Things to consider:

To ensure your dental practice is up to scratch, at the time of thinking about a dental practice renovation, we would suggest you consider partnering with dental fit-out companies.  Specialist dental fit-out companies will ensure a modern dental clinic with clever dental interior design that will show your patients that your care and respect their health.

When we conjure up an image of a hospital, a clinic or any specialised heathcare centre, the image that comes to mind is a bright white room with fluorescent lights and the smell of disinfectant.  Now, a quarter way through the 21^st Century this image is slowly evolving. Modern medical practice construction is shifting gears and focusing on efficient clinic layouts that focus on function but also patient experience.

The relationship between an efficient design and a Patient Centric Design?

Patient Centric Design is an approach that places the greatest weight to patient comfort during the design phase. 

Efficient Design is an approach that places greatest weight on moving patients to the next stage with ease and efficiency during the design phase.

How do these two competing ideas work together in the design phase?

In practice, we have found the differing needs of stakeholders can compete but can also compliment one another.  In effect, an efficient layout that moves patients seamlessly increases the patient turnover each day but it also works to enhance the patient experience with less time waiting around.

Benefits of Patient Centric Design

Designing an efficient clinic layout that focuses on patient centric layout there are things to consider for any healthcare fit out:

Comfort and Accessibility – Spaces are designed with patient mobility and comfort in mind. 

Dignity and privacy – Design a layout that provides privacy through soundproofed rooms to ensure patients feel secure and safe

Family – Designing places that incorporate families to feel included and close

Emotions – design spaces with appropriate lighting, ambience, temperature

Navigation – design spaces with suitable signage to take away uncertainty.

Outcome on Patients

Less anxious patients are more relaxed patients.  It improves their current mood and also contributes to improved recovery times.  Healthcare construction companies today, are aware of the benefits for the patient and design spaces that are patient centered.

Designing spaces that are patient centered does not actually increase the cost of a medical centre fit out. 

Increase in Patient Satisfaction

An overall positive experience is a satisfied patient. This benefits both the patient and the healthcare provider.

For example, if a dental practice renovation was completed with a patient centric design this might increase their patient numbers through word of mouth.

Practice Efficiency

A well laid out medical practice construction, healthcare fit out or even a dental practice renovation will not only benefit the patient but will also benefit the practice.

For example a dental fit out Melbourne that has a sensible design might reduce walking time for staff who move between rooms increasing efficiency and reducing burnout.   Another example -undertaking a dental practice renovation that designs an efficient treatment room enabling all tools of trade to be on hand will reduce patient treatment time.

Brand Image

We have all driven down the road and looked at run down houses that accommodate a medical practice and thought to ourselves that we would never be treated there. 

Knowing this the cost of a medical practice fit out would be a good investment for these run-down practices.  They would attract new patients due to the updated street appeal and word of mouth.

Healthcare providers that cater for an efficient patient centred design will certainly attract new patients.  A new dental fit out Melbourne will differentiate themselves from other run-down practices.  When patients enter a practice, their first impression will often dictate how the whole experience will go.  A positive first impression is critical for future referrals.

Long Term Benefits

The cost of a medical centre fitout might seem like a costly venture, but in the long run the financial benefits might be well worth the investment.

Investing in a well-designed healthcare fit out should increase patient satisfaction and increased operational efficiency will lead to repeat business that should result in long term financial success. 

In short – Before you invest in a medical practice construction with a healthcare construction company please ensure you consider the benefits of an efficient patient centred design.