SUPER GREEN - the International Academy of Design and Health

Technology Report: Palomar Pomerado HealthConcertof careEve Edelstein visits Palomar Pomerado Health tosee how the US healthcare provider is integratingleading-edge medical and information technologyinto its design for the hospital of the futureAs hospitals grow ever larger and care servesan increasingly acute patient population, anew range of technologies is being soughtto enhance care and transmit medical informationwithin and beyond hospital walls.This movement explores systems that functionsimultaneously at internal, individual and global levels.Information technology and microelectronic systemsare being developed to transmit patients’ vitalsigns and physiological states so that triage canoccur before the patient reaches the hospital, at thesame time as enabling access to medical expertisearound the globe.As scientists develop microtechnologies thatmonitor the health status of people in the mostextreme environments, whether in space fl ight oron the battleground, we can expect to have thesetechnologies trickle down to our homes and publicplaces. In hospitals, it will enable timely and continuedlogging of patient status that can be accessed bycaregivers on site and remotely.Hospital of the futurePalomar Pomerado Health (PPH) in Southern California is looking to incorporate such technologies, building an innovative healthcare systemfor the seven communities and outlying areas it serves in northern San Diego County, the largest public health district in California.With expenditures of approximately $1.2 billion, PPH will build a hospital of the future, a 450-bed tertiary medical centre that will replaceits current hospital in downtown Escondido; double the size of its second hospital in Poway to more than 200-beds; seismically retrofi t andconvert its existing 326-bed hospital in downtown Escondido into a specialised campus featuring mixed-use retail, housing, physical rehab,urgent care, behavioural health, oncology services and administrative offi ces; and build four major satellite health centres throughout thehealth district. These plans are driven by its projection of at least a 30% increase in population with a doubling in the number of those overthe age of 65, and an unfunded state mandate that requires acute care facilities to meet earthquake standards.The stated goal of Michael Covert, president and CEO, is to “build the Fable Hospital” described by Berry et al 1 , to increase operational34 October 2008 | WORLD HEALTH DESIGN