Whole room design with Midmark.
Primary care facilities are designed with a distinct purpose in mind – improving patient care. From the outset of the design and construction process, blueprints are drawn up to optimize workflows within the front office, lab space, and patient rooms to ensure that each touchpoint operates efficiently. A critical piece of this puzzle is the cabinetry.
While it may seem like a trivial detail in the grand scheme of the whole room design of a primary care office, the reality is that proper medical cabinetry plays a larger role in the efficiency and optimization of a primary care facility. Midmark introduced their Synthesis® Wall-Hung Cabinetry in 2022, a series of optimized cabinetry solutions designed to improve the room’s look and storage and significantly improve patient care processes.
The room design of the primary care space is critical to the patient and caregiver experience – the role of an optimized workspace cannot be underestimated. In fact, the efficiency and the utility of the room all comes down to a basic series of design-based decisions. In order to remedy this pain point for your primary customers, sales reps need to understand the value of cabinetry and what it takes to improve the storage space and workflow of a primary care office.
Brian Hazelwood, Marketing Manager for Midmark, said, “Cabinetry can be designed with a focus on both the patient and caregiver to help improve workflow and efficiency. For the patient, an improved workflow means more facetime with the caregiver and a feeling of focus and care in the visit leading to higher patient satisfaction. For the caregiver, cabinetry designed for their average height1 allows for better reach and visibility to the storage in the room and can improve safety for staff.”
The value of cabinetry
Cabinetry is usually installed in the primary care space during the facility’s construction phase, which can often result in the general contractor bidding cabinetry to subcontractors for the lowest cost option that meets the needs of the space and the architect of the facility. While the cabinetry layout is decided based on workflow needs and space constraints, the quality of the cabinetry is decided on the budget of the healthcare organization.
More often than not, healthcare organizations are looking to cut costs wherever they can. And why not? With healthcare spending through the roof for the past several years, finding ways to reduce expenses for something as simple as cabinetry seems like an easy decision to make. Unfortunately, cabinetry at a lower price point may not be designed to the specific needs and requirements of the medical field.
Hazelwood said, “Human interaction between the patient and caregiver in the exam room is especially important–the layout and equipment in the exam room can impact this interaction. Exam chairs, diagnostic equipment, workstations, cabinetry and seating all impact this human interaction. In the case of cabinetry, to meet the needs of the caregiver and patient, it should be designed and built for the clinical space.”
Cabinetry designed to fit into the caregiver’s workflow should be flexible and adaptable to the space, while offering efficient supply organization options. Additionally, it’s important for the cabinetry options to be designed with the ergonomic needs of the caregiver in mind, as well as the durability required to function in a clinical setting.
As healthcare organizations continue to adopt modular building concepts, introducing modular cabinetry into the primary care setting is a simple way to improve the adaptability and flexibility of the caregiver’s workspace. The needs of the space may have to change over the course of time, but consumer-grade cabinetry will not be able to change with it. Modular cabinetry is designed to flow with the rest of the workspace – if something changes in the flow of the room or the cabinetry needs to be removed altogether, modular units are the best option.
Leveling up the storage space
One of the greatest enemies of the primary care space is inadequate storage. This acts like a ripple effect, where numerous touch points down the line are affected in profound ways. There are plenty of reasons why primary care offices are space-challenged. Whether it’s the result of storage not being a priority in the design phase of the facility, cabinetry that isn’t designed for the primary care space, or the fact that some older facilities were simply not built to handle growth and increased patient volume, it’s a looming challenge that can create serious disruptions to clinical workflows and patient care.
Primary care visits can be difficult for patients in a variety of ways, and a cluttered environment will only exacerbate any anxiety or apprehension that people can feel about doctor’s offices. Patients need to feel at ease about the quality and level of care that is being provided, and it’s difficult to convey high-quality when the space is disorganized and messy due to inadequate storage.
Inadequate storage also significantly impacts the well-being of the clinical staff in the office. Because clinical work can be mentally and physically demanding, it’s important to ensure that the clinical design is conducive to a healthy work environment. Storage issues can decrease productivity and create chaos within the facility, leading to stress and potential injury to the clinical workers.
The Midmark cabinetry solution
Midmark works to provide practical solutions to the dynamic challenges faced by the clinical sector. With an evidence-based design approach, Midmark works closely with healthcare staff and ergonomic experts to design exam room equipment that provides an added layer of safety and efficiency for the exam room.
“Midmark designed its cabinetry for medical use to be durable in the clinical space and support effective infection prevention protocols,” Hazelwood said. “Consumer-grade cabinetry is designed for general usage in the home or office and lacks the infection prevention and durability qualities required for clinical spaces. Midmark cabinetry is modular and can be reconfigured or moved to meet changes that clinics frequently face. It is designed with flexibility in mind, accommodating the changing needs of the medical space whether moving from one facility to another or renovating the current space.”
The Synthesis Wall-Hung Cabinetry is designed for healthcare workers who will frequently interact with the cabinetry in the medical space, which creates a better caregiving experience at the point of care. This line of cabinetry features base and tall cabinets that optimize the most-used areas of storage for easier reach by physicians and staff.
This line of cabinetry is designed to adapt to the needs of the clinical staff, not the other way around. With all the obstacles medical staff face each day, they need a storage solution to help keep their supplies organized and workspaces uncluttered, ensuring that they can focus on the most important – taking care of their patients.
1 www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/08/your-health-care-in-womens-hands.html