If your current Veterinary Practice is beginning to look a little tired or if you are dreaming of a brand-new Veterinary practice construction, never underestimate the impact that intelligent design has on the success of your Veterinary Practice.
Vet Clinic design requires a detailed and thoughtful approach to balance competing elements of function, comfort, flow and aesthetics. First and foremost pet owners and pets should feel a level of comfort when walking through the door. A stress-free waiting room environment is essential for a successful client experience. Staff wellbeing and safety is a another main aspect that can help predict the success of your practice. Accordingly, Veterinary clinic design ideas created by medical design experts can mean the difference to a successful Veterinary fit out.
Layout considerations – Veterinary Fitouts
Reception and Waiting Areas – We touched a little above on the importance of a well laid out Reception and Waiting room above. The importance of this can-not be underestimated. Our research shows that there is a direct relationship between the return rate of patients and their ‘waiting room experience’. Pet owners who felt both themselves and their beloved pets were anxious due to a lack of separate areas will often find a new Veterinary Clinic for their pets next visit.
Sometimes subtle ideas like non-slip floors make pet owners feel at ease even if their pets are not feeling quite so relaxed. An anxious pet who might be behaving a little erratic will only heighten their bad experience if they begin to slip on a waiting room floor. Easy to clean and non-porous flooring is also a must in a waiting room for anxious pets.
Not that pets appreciate calming colours, but pet owners certainly do. Soft greens, beiges, blues and neutral tones certainly add to an aesthetically pleasing space for pet owners. (Colours have psychological and emotional effect on patients and care givers, although we are not sure it has the same effect on pets).
Consulting rooms – A vet clinic design with multiple examination rooms will shorten wait times of anxious pets and their owners. Designing a Veterinary fit out with spacious rooms to service equipment and provide both owner and pet room to move is highly desired. So too having an adjustable height examination tables. Some pets are just too large and too heavy for owners to lift pets onto examination tables. These ideas and considertaions are critical to the success of Vet fitouts.
Treatment and Procedure areas: Smart Veterinary clinic design ideas will design a treatment room in a centralised location for ease of access. We also recommend during a Veterinary Practice construction, it would be prudent to consider adding sound barriers to any treatment room. Anxious animals that might be barking or squealing can cause other pets to become agitated. Sound limiting material with acoustic barriers are a very good idea.
Kennels – Designing a veterinary fit out with separate recovery spaces for different animals is a highly regarded idea. Placing a cat along-side a dog can cause additional anxiety whilst animals are recovering. Further, deigning veterinary fitouts to include correct ventilation and temperature control is key to pet comfort after a medical procedure.
Ensuring your Vet Clinic design has allowances for staff viewing windows and/or cameras for staff to monitor pets as they recover is a new age idea.
Staff rooms – Whilst in the design phase for your Veterinary practice construction we implore you not to forget your precious staff and their wellbeing. Lunch-rooms installed with security lockers are a good idea. Well laid out rest rooms and even a quiet area for staff to take the time they need to re-gain themselves after a difficult situation are great Veterinary Clinic Design ideas. Empathetic staff who can bond with pet owners in a challenging situation are hard to find. Therefore, it is important that staff well-being is considered during the design phase of Veterinary Fitouts.
Equipment and Storage
One of the more complicated space planning ideas for Vet fitouts is planning for oversize equipment and tidy storage ideas. Medical tools need to be at arms-reach for the attending vet but also need to be able to be put away immediately after use. This design is very intricate and every millimeter impacts the functionality. Combine this with positioning larger x-ray machines and treatment benches, the logistics of good Veterinary Clinic Design ideas is best left to the experts.
Parking
Veterinary Clinic design is not limited to indoor spaces. Arranging a car park to fit as many parking spaces as possible with suitable spaces for larger pet carriers is very important to the overall pet owner experience. Owners don’t wish to park up the road and then transport a sick or injured animal to the clinic.
Generally we find the more thought that goes into the planning and design phase the greater chance that the Veterinary Fit out or Veterinary practice construction will be highly successful on all fronts – for clinic owners, pets, pet owners and staff.
Our design team would love to chat with you for your upcoming Veterinary Fit Out or Veterinary Practice construction.
Contact us today on 03 9592 4655
