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Changing the chemotherapy process model by reducing patient wait time and improving choices
As patients enter the Brooklyn Infusion Center, they are met by a staff member in the lobby or can opt for the self check-in monitor; there is no traditional waiting room. Patients then move directly to their preferred treatment space, where a nurse does a final check and chemotherapy begins. Each visit patients select from the tranquil, private treatment pods or choose an interaction space in the Central Garden instead.
Inspired by New York’s urban 'pocket park', the Central Garden forms the heart of the facility and includes conversation areas, a library, and a communal table that allows for shared activities. These social spaces are provided for times when patients feel well enough to gather with caregivers and other patients. The treatment pods are staggered along each of the Garden’s long edges, with visual and physical access to the amenities.
The Brooklyn Infusion Center is the first prototype centre developed by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to enhance the patient care experience by drastically reducing patient wait times, offering patients choices in the treatment process, and conveniently locating treatment facilities in a residential neighbourhood. The concept makes patients 'chemo-ready' by performing blood work and other screening procedures the day before in its Manhattan facilities, then providing the chemotherapy drug treatment on a personalized basis at the Brooklyn clinic.
Completed in October 2010, the 7,745 sq ft facility transforms ground floor storefront space into a bright and welcoming clinic that can accommodate 30 patients daily and also serves as an art gallery and neighbourhood resource for health advocacy presentations. Planters, vegetation and a water feature define the Garden’s spaces, creating texture and colour along circulation paths, and providing a calming sense of connection to natural elements. This design approach incorporates biophilia, with its growing body of medical and psychological research indicating that patient recovery accelerates when they are connected to nature.
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