Monday, September 24, 2007

ED Design

We're moving into a new ED at 5AM tomorrow..It's great, blah, blah..Just wondering if anyone knows if there is a design bible/rule that says no ED can have WINDOWS!!
45 new beds and it's in the middle of our hospital and NO WINDOWS!!
Why can't I see outside when I work?!
Does that bother anyone else or just me???

16 comments:

  1. I sympathize. The high school where I teach is also completely windowless... good, because it limits distractions for the kids, but also bad, because it limits distractions for the teachers! It's also a lovely surprise to leave work at the end of the day and find my car under a foot of snow I didn't know had fallen...

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  2. Typical American architecture... Windowless boxes without sunshine which make people depressed. Go to Europe for contrast and comparison...

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  3. Don't feel bad, OR's are the same. Their (idiot administrators)reasoning......the public might be able to see in and breach patient privacy. Really? Even though the OR is on the 3rd floor?

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  4. I thought they did that so you couldn't keep track of time by the sun. You don't know you've worked from sun up to sun down if you can't see the sun.

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  5. anonymous. here's an idea. move to europe.

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  6. Yes! Yes! Europe! Great answer. I remember fondly the public housing in Mother Russia and the Eastern Bloc. Wonderful stuff. And the new Louvre... nothing to jar the eye there.

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  7. Must be some new "joint" requirement, we moved into a new er last month, and it only has 4 windows in the whole 33000 square feet, and they are all opaque like, so you can not see into or out of them. I hope yalls move goes smoother than ours, It is still sucking, apparently, new things brings even more people who do not need to be there, our numbers have increased by 100 new patients a day, consistently. I have yet to work a night that has had less than 42 patients waiting for me in the lobby

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  8. Are you REALLY talking to me about windowless cave-like work spaces? Go to the pathology department in any hospital and the window-free ER will look like fucking Valhalla.

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  9. etotheipi

    sunlight would kill you and your kind

    CAT

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  10. I prefer the ER to be windowless. It makes the nightshifts easier. Like a casino or a submarine, it doesn't matter what time it is.

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  11. yes Cat. Sun does tend to cause my skin to sizzle ala "Blade".

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  12. I use the age old ER approach to time telling:

    Administrators and nurses wearing high heels and carring clip boards: it's daytime

    I can't get a radiology report: It's between 11:30am and 1:30pm

    The patient says: "my doctor sent me here to get some tests": it's about 5pm

    Most of the rooms are full of unruly drunk patients, multiple somatic complaint patients, and tweeked meth-heads: it's night time

    The majority of the patients are over 80 complaining of dizziness, or near-syncome: it's Sunday right after church.

    The trauma patients are wet: it's raining

    The homeless are trying to get admitted: it's cold

    The ER is full of 5 mph collision patients: it's icy (Texans can't drive on ice)

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  13. Window's...what are window's. Even on the 2nd floor patient window's are completely covered with blinds. I worked in Corpus Christi, TX, New ICU...Huge windows with beach front views...the patient's beds turned so they couldn't see out and equipment arranged in a way that you could not get to the windows....oh, and the contractor's forgot to caulk said windows which leaked copious amounts of water when it rained...hummmm and then they wanted us to ride out a Cat III Hurricane there....thank God Rita turned.

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  14. We moved into a new ER suite 3-4 years ago. Forget about windows. Trauma area (most critical patients) farthest away from main desk where everyone hangs out. Two people can not pass each other in some hallways and I can't find anything.

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  15. I feel for you. I worked in a company like that once. It's surreal when coming outside to totally different weather.

    ER DOC 85-very funny and so true about the high heels!

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