Hospital Design's Influence on Productivity and Quality of Care

The differences between two hospitals level of productivity and quality of care were investigated to determine if efficiency in hospital design, and modern technology, provide increases in either of these factors. The study consisted of a study of a single organization as it operated the last 24 months of its 44 year occupancy in a mobilization-style Army hospital and the first 9 months of its occupancy in a new mall-concept-style hospital. The results indicated that an increase in productivity was not seen. The aggregated data for the nine month period showed no significant increase in output and showed very unstable relationships between the outputs and the inputs used to produce them. The results indicated that an increase in labor caused a decrease in outputs and an increase in spending only caused one half the increase in outputs that it had in the first facility. In addition, no definite decision could be made regarding the quality of care delivered because although some variables demonstrated an improvement, other very important indicators demonstrated a decrease in the quality of care. The findings are probably a result of insufficient sample size and the impact of the initial adjustment period on the aggregate data in the new facility. Keywords Productivity Workplace layout Quality of care Performance human Hospital design.