Lessons learned: clinicians' post-occupancy perspective of facility design involvement.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Facility Design
• Clinical Stakeholder Engagement
• Interdisciplinary Team Dynamics

Background:

• Healthcare facility design traditionally involved limited stakeholders; however, recent trends include diverse clinical input.
• A gap exists in clinicians' preparedness to effectively communicate needs and utilize architectural tools in facility design.
• International observations highlight challenges in translating clinical needs within the architectural design process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify clinician knowledge gaps crucial for effective participation in healthcare facility design.
• To gather practical insights and lessons learned for enhancing the performance of interdisciplinary design teams.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative, post-occupancy cross-case study approach was employed.
• Focus group interviews were conducted with clinical teams in newly occupied healthcare facilities (6 months to 2 years post-occupancy).

Main Results:

• Key curriculum topics for clinician competency in facility design were validated.
• Focus group feedback revealed additional areas for skill development and provided valuable lessons learned.
• Qualitative data offered new dimensions for understanding the design process and post-occupancy experiences.

Conclusions:

• While curriculum validation was an initial objective, lessons learned from focus groups offered significant practical implications.
• Findings provide a foundation for future research on post-occupancy evaluations and optimizing interdisciplinary collaboration in healthcare design.