Sailing New Waves: MUSC Health R. Keith Summey Medical Pavilion

SAILING NEW WAVES

MUSC HEALTH R. KEITH SUMMEY MEDICAL PAVILION

A trip to a surgical center can be a bewildering experience that combines the emotional stress of treating an injury or illness with practical hassles such as navigating traffic and finding parking in unfamiliar territory. The anxiety can be exponentially greater for pediatric patients and their families.

In developing the new Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Children’s Health R. Keith Summey Medical Pavilion, MUSC wanted to transform that experience. The concept of patient-centered care drove the entire design process and informed decisions from the site selection through the final finishes.

The trend towards outpatient delivery models for low-acuity services was another factor in designing the new facility, as MUSC’s downtown Charleston campus is running out of room to expand in the historic peninsula. The Pavilion’s North Charleston site offered a range of benefits: more land, less traffic, and significantly easier access for the large number of patients and families coming from out of town. The convenience of an easy-to-find, easy-to-access site with generous parking reduces stress levels before visitors even reach the front door. The new facility, embedded into the North Charleston community, is well positioned to serve families across the Lowcountry region and beyond.

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THIS BUILDING IS THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE OF MAKING HEALTHCARE ALL ABOUT THE CHILD. -SHERI PILLEY

The patient-centered care model is evident from the main entry and extends throughout the Pavilion.

The streamlined check-in process includes new technologies for registration; parents can call in from home to preregister and complete the check-in process upon arrival by hitting a button on a kiosk. The kiosks don’t replace friendly faces, though. Staff at the front door and the information desk are handpicked to serve as kid-friendly greeters and answer questions. Parents receive a printout with a schedule and room location, and arrival stations outside of the clinics let the nursing staff know patients have arrived.

This new technology is designed for flexibility and adaptability as healthcare trends and visitor preferences evolve.

If MUSC finds that families prefer checking in with a nurse, more inperson registration stations can easily be added. Likewise, the space will accommodate additional kiosks if that option works best. The current configuration of kiosks with a staffed information desk is anticipated to greatly reduce the administrative staff required for registration functions and provide a seamless experience for families- a win/win design.

Beyond the registration kiosks, energetic and easy-to-navigate wayfinding strategies combine colors, numbers, and wall graphics to give patients three touchpoints as they find their way through the space.

Because pediatric patients may range from infants to age 18, and the design needed to be relatable and appealing to all ages. The Experiential Graphics are child-friendly without being overtly elementary, and waiting areas have teen zones as well as child life play areas.

Throughout the process, a Patient and Family Advisory Group offered guidance and perspective. The group advocated strongly for amenities to make visits less stressful for patients and families, such as the small cafĂŠ with grab-andgo snacks. Located near the waiting rooms, the cafĂŠ optimized a constrained footprint and took advantage of shared spaces to accommodate a few tables, and provides comfort to families waiting for children undergoing procedures.

Lactation rooms make the visit easier for nursing mothers, and a child life/teen area on second floor welcomes patients during the day but transitions to educational space for after-hours training with flexible furnishings.

As part of its holistic approach to care, MUSC invests heavily in its Child Life program with funded staff positions whose role is to put kids at ease. These specialists visit with patients, provide positive distractions, take toys to the bedside and encourage age-appropriate conversation about what’s going to happen during the visit. The ability to practice putting an anesthesia mask on a doll or a dinosaur helps to minimize anxiety and allows children to ask questions before hand.

The patient-centered care model continues into the clinical spaces, where the induction rooms for anesthesia are located across the hall from the operating room and MRI. Instead of requiring parents to don the “bunny suit� complete with hat, mask, and booties to accompany their child into the OR for anesthesia, the family can wait together in street clothes in a much less stressful setting. Once under anesthesia, the child is easily transported a few feet across the hall to the operating room.

In addition to providing a huge asset to the community, the new Pavilion will yield significant benefits for MUSC. The facility will help MUSC streamline operations for better efficiency and optimal patient care. The ability to prepare patients for surgery in induction rooms means that operating rooms will stay in use for a much greater amount of time, allowing providers to treat more patients. The use of flexible clinical space also maximizes efficiency, as does an ortho clinic that transitions to an urgent care at night.

A joint research study between MUSC and Clemson University on the Operating Room of the Future coincided with the early stages of design for the project.

As a result, the design team was able to incorporate emerging research on room orientation and size, the optimal location of the OR table, and the position of the anesthesiologist.

To best support the staff and physicians, flexible and unassigned workspaces boost communication, reduce silos among departments, and support an authentic collaborative care approach.

Other shared and flexible spaces can be used for telemed services and lounges.

Standardized, flexible exam pods host rotating specialists throughout the week as well; this configuration allows patients to combine multiple specialist appointments into one visit to the ambulatory surgical center. This approach not only customizes each patient’s visit to maximize the family’s time, but also streamlines the collaborative care approach.

The Pavilion represents an exciting new chapter for MUSC and its expanded capabilities in North Charleston. A contemporary “sail” of curved curtainwall welcomes staff, patients, and families and references both MUSC’s brand and Charleston’s history as a port city. The two-story building has a long footprint which is designed for future expansion, and the exterior materials of fiber cement panel, curtainwall, and colored glass relate visually to MUSC’s Shawn Jenkins Children’s hospital in downtown Charleston.

The buildings read as “sister” facilities; Shawn Jenkins weaves in a historic Charleston theme, while the Pavilion’s design reflects the North Charleston lifestyle and scenery with nods to the area’s industrial ports and the river. Docks and boardwalks mark the entries to major corridors, and allow the integration of natural and sculptural elements to enliven the space.

Integrated into the North Charleston community, the Pavilion will serve its pediatric patients and their families with a holistic approach to patientcentered care. This bright, welcoming, and serene space will greatly reduce the stress associated with healthcare events while paving the way for new models of care.