Building for change: university hospital design for future clinical learning

Recent developments in the way health care is organized and delivered have rendered many old hospital structures obsolete. The creation of an entire new university hospital for tertiary health care, clinical research and education has made it necessary to discuss and define what pedagogical strategies should be used in this new setting and how physical structures can support learning. Contemporary health care is per se interprofessionally team-based, but most health care education is still performed in silos, separated for each profession. When building a new hospital new possibilities arise to create an interprofessional and learner-centered environment with an adjusted physical infrastructure and spaces for learning. The old hospital conserved highly discipline-based (and professionally isolated) curriculas and didactically oriented; all manifested in the physical environments. However, the New Karolinska University Hospital presents a shift towards a pedagogy characterized by learning centeredness, interprofessionalism clearly expressed in the architecture, design and allocation of spaces within the new buildings. The aim of this article is to highlight the considerations that have been made during the process to design and plan for the new university hospital.