Photo: ZGF Architects

The 112-bed, 250,000 sq ft full-service community hospital in Gig Harbor, Wash. includes a 24-hour emergency department equipped to handle trauma cases and includes medical, surgical and critical care units; inpatient and outpatient surgery; a heart catheterization laboratory; diagnostic services (including MRI, CT scans, ultrasound and mammography); and physical, occupational and speech therapies. The main hospital is connected to the 93,000 sq ft Milgard Medical Pavilion which houses medical offices and the Jane Thompson Russell Cancer Care Center, an integrated cancer center offering programs for patients and families. The project also includes parking for 700 cars.

Responding to the latest medical research and shifts in practice, the arrangement of the Cath Labs adjacent to the operating rooms provides flexibility for future integration of these traditionally disparate disciplines allowing for more efficient use of staff and space and a higher level of sterility to increase patient safety.

Atypical of a community hospital, full showers in the bathrooms of critical care rooms opens the door for a wider range of patient types to use those rooms.

The hospital design integrates the latest technologies to meet the goal of becoming a paperless hospital including wireless mobile charting stations to enable immediate access to patient records and treatment plans; a wireless Vocera communication system to provide a quiet patient environment; audio-visual capabilities in surgical suites to improve patient outcome; interfaced, multi-user conferencing equipment to enhance multi-disciplinary collaboration; and a picture archive computer system (PACS) for digital storage of medical images, saving space, resources and time.