Ocean Health Initiatives (OHI), a Federally Qualified Health Center that provides healthcare services to underserved communities across New Jersey, envisioned a new healthcare center in Toms River designed to enhance access, coordination, and the patient experience.
Challenge
The challenge was to design a facility that supports collaboration across multiple clinical disciplines while simplifying the patient experience. The center also needed to serve low-income, uninsured, and underinsured populations while balancing operational efficiency, flexibility, and budget requirements.
Solution
Our design solution was characterized by clusters of exam rooms that flank team workrooms, which helps to promote the inter-disciplinary continuum of care. The patient and family circulation paths are clearly delineated so that wayfinding is simple. The program includes 29 exam rooms, five dental operatories, a sterilization area, laboratory space, pharmacy, and offices, supporting facility services.
Outcome
The new center delivers a coordinated, patient-centred model of care that supports a broad range of healthcare services within one location. Designed to feel more like a boutique health center than a traditional public clinic, the facility enhances the patient experience while providing a durable, cost-effective environment that supports the long-term health needs of the community.
Carefully selected finishes balance a welcoming aesthetic with durability and budget requirements
Exam rooms are organized into care clusters, allowing medical specialties to adapt to the patient, while separate staff and patient circulation paths simplify wayfinding and support operations.
A boutique-inspired environment creates a welcoming experience for patients and families
Ocean Health Initiatives (OHI) provides a comprehensive range of primary and specialty health services and is classified as a Federally-Qualified Health Center. OHI challenged NORR to design a new 20,000-square-foot health care center in Toms River, NJ for a highly-integrated, inter-disciplinary approach to clinical care in an underserved community. Like many Health Sciences clients, OHI envisioned a patient-centric design as they recognized the environment is an important part of the patient experience.
The NORR design solution was characterized by clusters of exam rooms that flank team work rooms, which helps to promote the inter-disciplinary continuum of care. This concept is further developed to clarify the separation of on-stage and off-stage activity and circulation. The patient and family circulation paths are clearly delineated so that wayfinding is simple, and patients remain in the on-stage areas. Staff circulation paths are similarly separate from patient circulation but interconnected allowing the staff to move freely from one work area to another. Depending on the patient care schedule, an exam room cluster, typically five or six per cluster, may serve interchangeable sub-specialties.
The resulting patient-centric design featured 29 exam rooms, five dental operatories, sterilization area, lab space, a pharmacy, employee break room and offices supporting inter-disciplinary services, including pediatric and adolescent medicine, obstetrics and gynecology services, internal medicine, family medicine, pharmacy and social services.
Above all, the new center serves the low income, uninsured and underinsured populations in the community. The NORR design team brought the client’s vision and mission to life by creating a patient experience that does not feel like a typical public health clinic. The response is more evocative of a boutique health center, while the finish selections all meet the client’s budget, as well as the rigors required for a high use healthcare environment.