Intermountain Healthcare Saint Joseph Heart and Vascular Institute

PROJECT NARRATIVE

This new 24,000-square-foot center of excellence brings together six cardiovascular service lines: general cardiology; diagnostic imaging and procedure, including nuclear medicine; CT surgery and structural heart surgery practice; electro-pulmonary devices; heart failure; and an observation unit for patients receiving specialized drug treatments. Because several of these services were previously housed within the main hospital, consolidating these specialties in an outpatient setting reduces costs and frees up space and resources within the hospital and emergency department.

The design team worked closely with the clinic's medical providers, adjusting the layout to accommodate the needs of all specialties. The design emphasizes delineation in key clinical spaces: secluded teamwork areas help preserve patient privacy and allow separate practice areas to maintain dedicated workspaces, while enclosed physician offices offer comfortable, private rooms for patients, families, and doctors to build trust and rapport before an invasive surgical procedure. Conversely, shared spaces for resources every provider needs, such as exam rooms and support rooms, streamline the clinic's footprint. A large communal waiting area accommodates up to 130 people at a time.

While implementing brand standards remained a priority in the space, the clinic's unique workflow necessitated developing new clinical standards to align with programming needs. Services consist primarily of one-on-one patient interactions, eliminating the need for typical clinical spaces like blood draw and lab. Because the clinic's flow is so divergent from primary care or single-specialty clinics, the standards developed for this space are now being implemented in similarly structured specialty clinics across the health system.