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Little things matter a great deal in interior design. Nowhere is this concept more apparent than in medical clinic design. Small choices like the artwork on display in a waiting room, or the layout of an exam room can have big effects on patient satisfaction and employee productivity. Clinics are unique workspaces in that they must address the needs of both patients and medical professionals. And finding design solutions that achieve both criteria can be difficult. With that in mind, today we’ll focus on five key medical clinic design best practices. Check them out here:
Welcoming Waiting Rooms
The waiting room –– or reception area –– is the first place that visitors encounter in a medical clinic. As such, it’s imperative that this space is clean, welcoming, and open. Comfortable furniture is a must. What’s more, any sort of positive distraction such as open windows, engaging artwork, televisions, board games, (etc.) can go a long way toward making patients feel at ease. Check out our previous blog dedicated entirely to medical office waiting rooms for more information.
Dual-Purpose Exam Rooms
Exam rooms must contain the tools and technology that doctors, nurses, and other medical pros need to perform their jobs. However, it’s unwise to create solely utilitarian design rooms. Exam rooms should be large enough to help patients relax, and ideally, their design shouldn’t clash too much with the design of the rest of the facility. The unfortunate reality is that exam rooms in particular can feel overtly “clinical” and unnerve patients. Furthermore, some clinics are including new technologies like tablets that medical professionals can share with patients to display charts or images. The more transparent that a medical facility is, the better.
Accessibility
Medical clinics in particular need to focus on design concepts that emphasize accessibility. It’s important for medical facilities to accommodate disabled visitors or patients. Wheelchair ramps, automatic doors, and bathrooms with disability access are necessities for modern clinics.
Efficient Layout
Medical professionals have demanding jobs. The last thing they need to deal with is unintuitive layout that forces them to backtrack or disrupt other team members. Medical clinics should be designed to ensure patient comfort, privacy, and satisfaction. At the same time though, the layout should be easy to navigate from an employee’s perspective. In addition, professional clinics often use collaborative workspaces, which means that they must be designed to facilitate communication between team members.
Aesthetics
How a place looks, smells, sounds, and “feels” has an impact on the mood of those who inhabit it. Like any other workspace, medical clinics should use an effective color scheme that matches furniture and layout choices. Also, because privacy is so critical to the patient experience, rooms must be made soundproof. On the plus side, this will help eliminate distracting noises as well. Lastly, though it might seem obvious, certain basic design choices can improve the way a medical facility operates. For instance, bathrooms and break rooms should be placed strategically throughout the facility.
Conclusion
At Key Interiors, we’ve worked with dentists, doctors, and medical professionals to provide office design solutions for their facilities. We understand how to create clinical spaces that serve the needs of both patients and medical professionals, and we’re ready to help you optimize your clinic’s performance. Contact us to learn more, or to get an inside look at how we handle an office renovation, check out our free eBook by clicking here.
