Side of Design
A podcast from BWBR, for those with a craving to take their organizations and spaces to new heights, with a side of design. We explore topics and issues affecting how we heal, learn, work, research, play and pray with those whose passion and expertise centers on the spaces that enable us to do all of that.
Side of Design
Side Notes: Healthcare's Holistic Shift
In the latest episode of Side Notes, the bite-sized version of Side of Design, BWBR’s Healthcare Practice Leader Ryan Johansen joins us for a quick but impactful discussion on the state of healthcare market. In less than 15 minutes, they explore how the industry is shifting from a model centered on treating illness to one focused on promoting wellness—and how design can support this transformation by addressing the needs of patients, families, and healthcare staff in holistic ways.
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Matt Gerstner: 0:00
Welcome to Side Notes, the bite-sized version of Side of Design. In 15 minutes or less, we'll explore one idea, one insight or one conversation worth hearing. Let's get to it.
Welcome to Side Notes, the bite-sized version of Side of Design. I'm your host, Matt Gerstner. Joining me today is Ryan Johansen, principal and Healthcare Practice Leader with BWBR. We're going to take a closer look at the healthcare market today. Ryan, thanks for making time to be here.
Ryan Johansen: 0:34
You bet. Thanks for having me, Matt.
Matt Gerstner: 0:35
All right, short and sweet, we're getting right into it. So, what are you most excited about in the healthcare market today?
Ryan Johansen: 0:37
Oh, the healthcare market. It's a good one these days. Really, what excites me about the market itself is that shift from treating the sick to keeping people healthy. Physically, mentally, spiritually, it covers it all.
Matt Gerstner: 0:48
Okay.
Ryan Johansen: 0:49
Right, We've got physical health is going beyond just the prevention and focusing on being well.
Matt Gerstner: 0:56
Right.
Ryan Johansen: 0:57
Things like exercise and nutrition, the advancement of wearable devices, I'm sure you've got several on.
Matt Gerstner: 1:04
I've got my watch on.
Ryan Johansen: 1:06
But that's empowering us to control these components of our wellness, now more than ever. So mental health is now a central part of how we define well-being. The stigma is still there. We haven't gotten over that yet, but the momentum towards openness, support, and innovation is stronger than ever so excellent, lots of event advancements there. And spiritual health is increasingly being recognized as a social determinant of health okay influencing resilience, motivation and our emotional well-being.
Ryan Johansen: 1:42
So what that means for me is that every project is a healthcare project. Because, every project has a human interaction and can affect all three of those physical, mental and spiritual health.
Matt Gerstner: 1:56
Well, that's fantastic. That sounds like a very positive direction that we're going. I love that you, uh, or that in that group is the mental health, and still acknowledging that it's not completely stigma free and that there's work to do, because that is just a massive component for everyone, whether they realize it or not.
Ryan Johansen: 2:15
You bet there's. It's made great strides but, like you said, it's going to take everybody, and we're headed in the right direction.
Matt Gerstner: 2:22
So that is good news. All right, so we've got the excitement going on here. What are the biggest challenges that your clients are facing?
Ryan Johansen: 2:31
I'm glad you said challenges, because if you were to ask me to pick one in health care, not possible. So, I would say the biggest challenge that our clients are experiencing right now are those financial pressures. Right, Hospitals, we know, run on razor thin margins, so every change that happens requires a reaction for the organization, and there's a lot of changes happening right now. So, the higher costs for staffing and materials and construction costs that we see continually climb are way outpaced by the reimbursements, which obviously don't often cover the costs already. Right, so there's lots going on in the health care organization. The other things are the amount of changes that are coming at them at any one given time, as I previously mentioned, and those staffing shortages and burnout that they're experiencing.
Matt Gerstner: 3:39
Yeah, I've got family in the health care industry and I hear about it. You know, I hear about people, just not you know, it's a lot. They're expecting a lot of each of their employees and it gets tough at times. So we're thinking about all of the challenges that they're facing. In what ways are we able to help them with these now?
Ryan Johansen: 4:02
Yeah, great question. Um, I think, if I, if I look at the first one, the the financial, the financial pressures that they're experiencing, BWBR, we really under try to understand uh, the business of healthcare right, how a business operates, can really help us have a uh drive a impact to their bottom patient volumes, the payer mixes that they're how they receive payment, the reimbursement rates that vary per department in an organization. So that really helps us design a facility that is not only sized appropriately to meet their community needs but also allow the facility to optimize those reimbursements that they do receive for providing that care.
Matt Gerstner: 4:52
Okay.
Ryan Johansen: 4:52
In terms of the other two that I mentioned, the amount of changes that they're experiencing and really that staff component staffing shortages and that burnout, how their space is designed can really have a tremendous impact on both of those. Designing resilient spaces that are flexible and easily adaptable to accommodate their evolving care models. Like I said, change is constant, so if we build a static building, that's not doing them any good and then making sure that those spaces are designed uh for the safety and wellbeing of everyone that encounters them that's, from patient, uh, from a family, uh visitor, uh to the staff that work there day in and day out.
Matt Gerstner: 5:41
Right, right, yeah, it's. It's not just the employees, it's also the patients and, and, uh, people just utilizing the space. Incredible. So, thinking about all these things now, we're thinking about the challenges, we're thinking about the things to be excited about. What do you love about designing in this market?
Ryan Johansen: 6:01
Yeah, I love uh healthcare because, uh, of the impact that we have on everybody that encounters these spaces. Just like you just said, it's not just the patient, it's not just the family, it's the staff, it's everybody, from the delivery person that's delivering those materials and goods to the family care member that's sitting by somebody's side when they're in a time of need.
Ryan Johansen: 6:30
So anything that we can do to make their experience more pleasant, help them relieve that stress, help them provide that quality care and receive that quality care, help improve their outcomes and help promote wellness to get them healthy and to keep them healthy um moving forward. So that impact is really what excites me about designing for healthcare spaces.
Matt Gerstner: 6:58
Yeah, I can. I can see how that will be a love of yours, absolutely, absolutely. And now, thinking about that love of this industry and this market, what inspires you to design for that You've asked me this before Matt and it gets me every time, so I'll see if I can get through it.
Ryan Johansen: 7:15
But, my grandma, Laura, that suffered Alzheimer's back when treatment was very different than we see today. Right, um, my grandma, Thelma, that suffered a brain aneurysm and severely impacted her mobility for the remainder of her life. Right, multiple family members and friends that have undergone cancer treatment and hospice care. Literally everyone out there is going through some sort of struggle that we don't know anything about and it inspires me to create better spaces so that you and I can go through our own struggles and make it out on the other side.
Matt Gerstner: 7:58
That whole thing right there just inspired me. That was, that was incredible. So with that, Ryan, thank you for your time, thank you for your insights today I know you gave our listeners a lot to digest and thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in.
