Breaking down walls: the new healthcare workspace transformation

Traditionally, healthcare organizations have organized their physical spaces around individual disciplines. While this approach makes logical sense, it inadvertently reinforces silos that institutions are now working to overcome in pursuit of shared healthcare goals.

Space ecosystem mapping represents a new approach based on the idea that no space on a healthcare campus operates independently. Rather, they should naturally overlap to create a cohesive system that supports patients and healthcare team members.

Healthcare ecosystem mapping creates a high-level direction framework to visually identify the natural overlap between different space realms. This helps facilities leaders understand how public spaces, clinical spaces and workspaces interconnect as well as how to position spaces to encourage encounters that increase efficiency and improve experiences.

Combining individual departments’ workspace suites can create economies of scale and increase the amount of space dedicated to collaboration. By literally breaking down walls, facilities leaders can increase space utilization, reduce their overall workspace footprint and eliminate silos that contribute to spatial inefficiencies and inequitable employee experiences.