Twice a year, The Center for Health Design’s (CHD) Pebble Project partners have the opportunity to meet at a host site, share ideas, provide updates on their projects, and learn from one another. In May, this meeting crossed the border for the first time and was hosted by the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) and its Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, British Columbia.
It is appropriate that the first international meeting was held in Victoria, as VIHA was the first international organization to join the Pebble Project. The Patient Care Centre (PCC) at Royal Jubilee Hospital is a 500-bed, 420,000-square-foot tower that opened on March 13, 2011.
Opening reception
During the opening reception, attendees heard from leaders at two Pebble Partner organizations: Howard Waldner, president and CEO at VIHA; and Barry Rabner, president and CEO of the Princeton Healthcare System, which is building the new University Medical Center at Princeton (UMCP) in Plainsboro, New Jersey (UMCP is a 630,000-square-foot hospital with 231 single-bed patient rooms and is planned to serve as the hub of a 171-acre health campus with medical offices, nursing and rehabilitation services, and facilities for fitness, health education, assisted living and independent living). Both spoke about the development of their respective facilities from the owner’s perspective —the PCC as a public-private partnership and the UMCP as a private development for a non-profit organization.
The most conversation was generated when it was suggested that to truly impact outcomes and advance evidence-based design, the design team should have some “skin in the game,” with compensation and fees linked to intended performance. This drew some reaction from the architects and designers in the room, who expressed concern about being accountable for operational issues that could affect the intended performance of the building once in use. Sidebar discussions continued throughout the meeting on this topic, with varied ideas, such as the design team members contributing funding to EBD research, if not being specifically accountable for outcomes, as well as commitments from providers to “do what is planned” and properly prepare staff.
The Pebble Colloquium host
The onsite presentation was led by VIHA executive team members Waldner and Rudi van den Broek, chief project officer and general manager, special projects. In addition to touring the new facility, attendees learned the PCC is leading-edge in three key areas–the environment, staff, and patients. The founding principles of the project included a focus on:
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