The SPARC innovation program opened in June 2004 to identify, develop, and measure innovative processes for healthcare delivery through real-time experimentation in a clinical setting. Sponsored by Mayo Clinic's Department of Medicine and developed by Mayo, IDEO, Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. (HGA), and Steelcase. SPARC began with in-depth research at Mayo conducted by the design firm IDEO, a Steelcase subsidiary. How patients use waiting areas, technology, and interior spaces; how doctors and patients interact; patient and family expectations; every patient contact point and support system-the entire healthcare process was examined. Mayo Clinic
Metro Health opened originally in 1942 when a group of physicians formed Grand Rapids Osteopathic Hospital. By 1957, the hospital had a major presence in a residential part of the city. The hospital’s land-locked site was far from the nearest highway, and by the mid-90s the organization was running out of space. A decade ago the hospital decided to look elsewhere for a suitable location. "It was either move and grow, or stay put and wither" as a newspaper editorial put it in The Grand Rapids Press. But the hospital’s board and its CEO, Mike Faas, had an even bigger idea: to build a healthcare village of medical offices, retail shops, condominiums, and parks, with the hospital at its center. Metro Health Hospital
600 units of blood. That's what Coffee Memorial Blood Center must collect every week to help meet the needs of 30 different healthcare facilities in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. But that mission was getting harder to accomplish in a too-small facility without enough space to accommodate the center's full staff. Meanwhile, the need for life-saving blood and its components showed no sign of letting up. Coffee Memorial wanted to gather all 105 workers and their entire operation under one roof and needed a facility that could adapt to continued growth. Two years before construction began, Coffee Memorial selected Nurture by Steelcase to provide research based industry insights, collaborate with the team working on the new facility, and deliver furniture for an optimal healthcare environment. Coffee Memorial Blood Center
When it was time to expand and improve the Emergency Department (ED) at Silver Cross Hospital, a 300-bed acute care facility in Joliet, IL, an hour south of Chicago, the administration turned to a team of healthcare experts, including Silver Cross staff, independent architects and designers, and Nurture by Steelcase, to develop a premier ED. The new ED had to better support staff work with more work surfaces, a variety of places for staff to work in small groups, furniture that would support diverse work processes, and spaces for privacy in an often hectic open environment. Silver Cross Hospital
This is a story about one exam room. In one healthcare clinic. And how an "extreme makeover" for that room may have implications for exam rooms in clinics around the country. The improvements in the room are simple yet innovative. The results are clearly impressive. It's now easier for patients to learn and understand more about their health and the care they receive. The room also offers better support for the healthcare provider. Overall it's a better healing environment for everyone involved. And it all started with a challenge. Sidney Hillman Health Center
When Ben Pethe, Director of Facilities Management at Saint Thomas Hospital learned about a new overhead speech privacy system called Confidante, he was a bit skeptical about its true effectiveness. But with one of the biggest dissatisfiers in the hospital's patient surveys being noise, Pethe decided to implement the new technology in a limited area. "The results were dramatic - a 33% increase in patient satisfaction", Pethe said. "In this setting, for that kind of money, if you can improve patient satisfaction, that's a good return." St. Thomas Hospital
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Mayo Clinic