St. Louis cancer centers eliminate hassle for patients

ST. LOUIS -- Go here for testing, there for treatment and somewhere else for surgery.

Because that kind of inconvenience only adds the burden placed on cancer patients, many hospitals are now working with architects to design treatment centers aimed at creating comfortable settings and eliminating the inconvenience.

One of the firms at the forefront of the movement is Cannon Design, which has an office in St. Louis and designed Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the Washington University School of Medicine.

At Siteman, which opened two years ago, the main-floor lobby features a grand piano.

"This looks like a very nice lobby to a hotel," Shirley Johnson, Siteman's director of oncology services, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "It's an aesthetically pleasing facility."

Back-area functions, such as deliveries of medical supplies, are kept out of sight from patients. Siteman staffers move through hallways that are inaccessible to patients.

"We even discourage staff from using the main elevators," Johnson said.

Siteman's designers even considered relatively small, patient-centered details in their plan.

For example, a patient who must undergo breast cancer surgery must have a needle inserted in her breast. Then, in the old model, the patient would be issued a hospital gown, placed on a stretcher and wheeled through a long corridor to a surgery room.

The possibly embarrassing, traumatic trip is handled differently at Siteman.

"We measured the distance to make sure we had the shortest link in that path," Johnson said.

Siteman combines 32 departments at the hospital and medical school into four floors in one building, eliminating aggravation for patients and bringing staff members closer.

"It builds the opportunities to discuss the future in clinical trials and developments," Johnson said.

Lesson in hospitality

Kent Turner, a principal at Cannon Design, said hospitals have changed their design philosophies in the past 10 to 15 years.

"They have taken some lessons from the hospitality industry," Turner said. Now they want a cancer center that "demystifies and calms and pleases patients."

Cannon won three design awards for its outpatient treatment center in suburban Detroit. Among the facility's features are plenty of natural light and a fireplace.

Several empirical studies suggest the designs can have a medical impact on patients, Turner said.

"That well-designed environment, from sound to texture, reduces the requirement for pain medication, reduces the length of stay and reduces medical errors," Turner said. "So, there is a real benefit to the cost side and patient outcomes."