During fiscal year 2010, the Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA) announced a request for proposals to support and facilitate the transformation of VHA into a culture of patient-centered care. VHA created the Office of Patient-Centered Care and Cultural Transformation that is directed by Dr. Tracy Williams Gaudet.
According to Gaudet, “The Office of Patient-Centered Care and Cultural Transformation will be a living, learning organization in which we will discover and demonstrate new models of care, analyze the results, and then create strategies that allow for their translation and implementation across the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA will continue to be a national leader in innovation, and, in this way, we will provide the future of high-quality healthcare to our veterans.”
The Office of Patient-Centered Care and Cultural Transformation selected four regional implementation teams across the country to implement VHA veteran-centered care principles. Each VA medical center was selected for excellence already demonstrated in producing cultures of patient-centered care based on established criteria. VA New Jersey Health Care System (VA NJHCS) was selected as one of the regional sites.
VA NJHCS was awarded a VHA Patient-Centered Care Innovation Grant in 2010 to redesign its outpatient pharmacy as a Pebble Project using an evidence-based design (EBD) process. This facility provides comprehensive tertiary care services to veterans throughout the state as a consolidated facility comprised of two main campuses—one in East Orange, New Jersey, and the other in Lyons, New Jersey—and 10 community-based outpatient clinics.
The East Orange campus (the focus of the grant proposal) is a general medicine, surgical, and psychiatry level 1b facility located in the Northeast, immediately adjacent to the city of Newark, New Jersey. Participating in this Pebble Project are VA NJHCS; The Center for Health Design; Planetree; and Array Healthcare Facilities Solutions. This partnership is centered on the understanding that the physical environment and other veteran-centered care principles should be considered in order to achieve the desired outcomes.
The EBD project goals for redesign of the outpatient pharmacy will enhance:
• Patient safety, quality of service, and information access by reducing distractions and wait times, and improving privacy;
• Patient and staff interactions through modified programming and the redesign of medication counseling and dispensing areas, as well as encouraged involvement of family and friends;
• Information and education through the availability of educational resources and My HealtheVet in-person authentication;
• Physical and environmental comfort with a focus on interior design, positive distractions, and healing arts in waiting/reception areas;
• Space planning and workflows using EBD and Planetree healing environment principles that support patient outcomes;
• Workforce engagement by improving the work environment to reduce noise, distractions, stress, and fatigue; and
• Efficiency of processes through the employment of recent technologies.
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