Gresham Smith Honored with Platinum Level Touchstone Award from The Center for Health Design

September 20, 2021

Gresham Smith is proud to announce that the firm was honored with a Platinum Level Touchstone Award from The Center for Health Design for exemplary use of the evidence-based design process on Tallahassee Memorial Hospital’s (TMH) M.T. Mustian Center Surgery & Critical Care Tower to increase value, improve outcomes and engage stakeholders.

When designing the new critical care tower to replace the hospital’s decades-old ICU, the interdisciplinary Gresham Smith project team sought to create an intensive care unit (ICU) environment that supports improved outcomes by decreasing sensory stress. Using an evidence-based design process that included extensive market analysis, user group sessions, and reviewing research, medical literature and precedent studies, designers developed specific design strategies to minimize noise levels, maximize visibility and increase natural light throughout the ICU. A racetrack layout increases visibility, an internal corridor keeps noisy support activity away from patient rooms, glass-walled nurse stations minimize distractions, decentralized work niches enable staff to quietly monitor patients without entering the room, and dedicated staff, patient and family zones within patient rooms designated by differentiated flooring create operational efficiencies and empower family members.

“This project was a great team effort between the design team, researchers, consultants, medical staff and community members. We are honored that The Center for Health Design has recognized our work on the M.T. Mustian Center and are proud of the ways our evidence-based design solutions have decreased sensory stress to create a calm, healing environment for TMH’s patients and staff,” said Lesa Lorusso, Ph.D., MBA, MSArch, Allied AIA, Healthcare Director of Research and Innovation at Gresham Smith. “Our team is passionate about incorporating research into designs, and we’re continuously looking for ways to investigate and apply evidence-based design solutions that add value for our clients.”

To evaluate the impact of Gresham Smith’s evidence-based design solutions, the Research & Innovation team partnered with TMH to conduct a research-focused post-occupancy evaluation to compare the campus’ former ICU with the new ICU environment. After collecting data from Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores and discharge surveys to measure patient perception of the ICU space; focus groups and turnover rates to measure staff perception of the ICU space; and acoustical levels within patient rooms and nurse stations to measure noise reduction, the data revealed that the total sensory stress in the new ICU is significantly lower than in the hospital’s old ICU environment and falls were reduced.

Presented by The Center for Health Design, the Touchstone Awards represent the pinnacle of achievement for employing the EBD process in projects and products worldwide to enhance health, safety and wellness; increase value; improve outcomes; and, engage stakeholders. The entries are reviewed by an expert panel consisting of key industry stakeholders — academics, architects, designers, healthcare executives, planners, facility executives, patient and family advisors, and researchers.

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Gresham Smith-planned and designed Mustian Center