Want to add a touch of home to your surgical center? The following popular ASC construction design tools will help your patients feel more at ease. Transform a stark waiting room or doctor’s office into a more functional healing environment. Here are some helpful steps for increasing patient and employee satisfaction using simple hospital design elements. Your patients want a clinic that doesn’t feel clinical. Yes, your ASC (ambulatory surgery center) should exude professionalism, but the paradox here is that people coming in for gastric bypass or hip replacements want to feel that they haven’t left the home. This makes them feel less anxious about their scheduled surgery and more likely to heal with fewer complications.

ASC Construction Design Tips

According to the leading hospital and healthcare facility design magazines, the trick to adding a homey environment to your workplace is to incorporate color, natural lighting, familiarity and spatial functionality into your medical building layout.

Functional rooms

Are you sure you want your first-time patients lounging in the same waiting area as recovering surgery recipients? The answer is that no, you don’t. This is a very crucial ASC construction feature that requires planning ahead. During the design phase, map out separate patient spaces, aligning them according to your work flow. You may designate separate exits for pre-surgery and post-surgery patients, in addition to specific waiting rooms and recovery rooms. Corridors should be constructed accordingly.

Furnishings

Gone are the rigid sardine-can rows of chairs that resemble airport lounge furniture. A major step in designing a modern medical office involves using residential furniture such as lazy-boy Barco loungers, cushy sofas, and foot-rests. Especially in the case of ASC’s treating patients with chronic pain or requiring bariatric surgery, special care should be used in selecting interior furnishings that provide comfort and convenience.

Artwork

Keeping in mind the demographics of your patient group, decorate your patient spaces accordingly. A children’s medical office can have colorful Trompe L’oeil wall murals and fun textured surfaces, while a cosmetic plastic surgery center may showcase tasteful before-and-after images or fashion photography.

Color palettes

Balance and functionality are crucial in choosing the right paint shades for your surgery facility. You wouldn’t paint your operating room the same shade as your waiting room, would you? Cool ocean colors and natural forest greens can be very calming, so use them in areas where you want your patients to feel most relaxed.  To create balance, infuse neutral shades such as browns and ecru, to avoid letting the cold hues dominate. Avoid using stimulating colors such as bright reds or oranges, as they can have the opposite effect and make your patients feel more anxious about their surgery. Does your medical space follow our ASC construction design model? If not, then speak to your medical contractor, and find out how you can improve your surgery center design layout. You may choose to remodel or build anew. Either way, finding an experienced commercial medical construction contractor familiar with government coding and safety regulations is the only real way to make sure your medical office is designed for success. References- Healing Hues: Choosing Paint Colors for Healthcare Five Need-to-Know Trends Shaping Healthcare Design Image by flickr/Gorjan Kulosman