HERA Principal Barbara Spitz, AIA and Laboratory Planner Joshua Evans recently spoke at the Next Generation Dx Summit in Washington, DC on the firm’s design process for clinical labs, and how informed decisions early in the design process can help create successful outcomes later.
As experts in clinical lab design, Barbara and Joshua spoke about HERA’s design process for clinical labs, emphasizing key differences between clinical labs and other lab types. They also highlighted space and design trends in molecular diagnostics, a rapidly growing and changing area of clinical lab testing. Institutions have different protocols and processes, and HERA has worked with many laboratories to tailor their spaces to fit these varying needs.
They also introduced HERA’s process mapping tool, which allows HERA to simulate major drivers for clinical labs – specimen volume, turnaround time and specimen flow – and address key planning variables, such as future staffing and equipment quantities.
HERA has successfully used process mapping for clients across the country. At Parkland Hospital (pictured) in Dallas, TX, HERA assessed the number of staff needed to handle receipt and processing of samples given future sample growth at the hospital’s new clinical laboratory. At the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, VA, HERA used process mapping to evaluate the pre-analytic staffing required for three different lab relocation options.
Do you have an upcoming clinical project that could benefit from HERA’s experience? We’d love to hear from you.