A client asked us to redesign an existing nurse station. Their goals were to:

• Expand the space so one more nurse could fit into the station
• Find a space for a baby scale and a printer so they could be moved out of the busy corridor
• Find a place to store the crash cart and EKG presently located in a physicians office
• Find a way to reorganize the storage areas

When we walked through the space, we noticed that circulation spaces cut through each storage area, there was a double circulation space around the island counter in the nurse station, and the medical records were stored in a corridor where patients had access — a HIPAA violation. We focused on converting the excessive circulation space into useable space. We did the following to improve the space:

• Took the part of the corridor that housed medical records and developed an entirely new procedure room.
• Put all of the storage into one room without a corridor running through it. By redesigning the corridor we were able to put the medical records in a staff only area Island Counter Casework Storage.
• Eliminated the island counter and redesigned it into casework storage at the rear of the nurse station. This allowed us to add two new spaces for nurses.
• Moved the two center spaces inward which allowed us to design space for the baby scale and printer and get them out of the corridor. There was just enough space under the scale and printer to store the crash cart and EKG

The client was delighted. Call us if we can help you with a problem like this.

Next Issue January 2006 "Why do a feasibility study?"