Safety for All: Integrated Design for Inpatient Units
Conclusion
Treating the whole patient in one location with one team is a tremendous concept, one that has been lost with the high degree of specialization that has dominated the field of medicine in recent years. The basic concept of integrated healthcare provides the opportunity to rethink the way we design hospitals. It is very exciting to see the integrated healthcare trend emerging; it provides a welcome change to treating patients in silos where caregivers from different specialties seldom interact or share information.
James Hunt is president of Behavioral Health Facility Consulting in Topeka, Kansas. He may be contacted at jim@bhfcllc.com.
David Sine is the chief risk officer at the VA National Center for Patient Safety. He may be contacted at dsine9@gmail.com.
The opinions in this article are those of the authors and are not intended to represent the position of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the U.S. government.
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