WellSpan Adams Health Center: A Unique Patient Experience

WellSpan Adams Health Center to exemplify this approach

When patients arrive at the WellSpan Adams Health Center later this year, they will enter a visitor-friendly lobby where a greeter will welcome them. The greeter will provide information and directions to registration and waiting areas.

In addition, there will be kiosks for quick access to directions and other information. There also will be comfortable seating and a children's area. And, a lobby cafe´ will provide a light breakfast and lunch menu.

Colors, fabrics, lighting and furnishings will create a pleasing and calming atmosphere. Patient privacy will be respected by the use of special gowns, transport of patients through non-public areas and acoustics to muffle the sharing of personal information.

A variety of services will be available in one location. Although a patient might be having lab and imaging tests and a physical exam on the same day, they will only have to give their personal information once. They also will be informed of what is happening every step of the way.

After their appointments, patients will be able to obtain their prescriptions from an on-site pharmacy offering a drive-through window.

This is the scenario envisioned for the center, which is being designed as a patient-centered facility that reflects four primary ambulatory principles.

"Our goal is for patients and their families to feel welcome and special wherever they go for ambulatory services," said Jamie Markel, director, Organizational Development, WellSpan Health. "We never want anyone to leave our facilities thinking they weren't cared about and that their needs weren't met."

The principles, which WellSpan uses when developing ambulatory facilities, are:

• Understand the patient perspective of ambulatory services.
• Design the operational and clinical processes so that the patient feels as though they are in a single-service facility, even if they are receiving care from multiple services.
• Include design elements that matter most to patients.
• Make high standards of customer service common among staff and physicians.

The principles were the result of input from nearly 500 people in Adams and York counties, WellSpan executives and a team of managers/directors from every service area designated for the site. Patients were interviewed while waiting for outpatient services or over the phone. Others replied to an online survey.

"To be truly patient-centered, the group had to delve into operations and facility issues as well as amenities and behaviors," Markel explained.

The draft of the principles was reviewed with the team of managers/directors, architects and WellSpan facilities staff to ensure everyone shared a common vision.

"A vast majority of WellSpan staff members already adhere to these principles, but the goal is to consistently keep our patients' best interests at heart," Markel said.