Healthcare Design - December 2020 - 30

REVIEW
BREAKOUT SESSION

USING POES TO CHALLENGE THE
STATUS QUO
POST- OCCUPANCY evaluations (POE) can bring
much-needed research to a project and help
broaden the healthcare design industry's understanding and use of evidence-based design.
However, it's not uncommon for proposals
about conducting one on a project to be met
with a range of excuses, from being too timeconsuming to too expensive to too difficult to
defend against clients' questions, said Jason
Angela Mazzi
Groneck, principal at GBBN Architects.
" We can and must do better with the projects we are tasked to deliver and challenge the
status quo, " he said during the HCD Virtual
session " POE-fficient: How to Apply Evidencebased Design in Everyday Practice. " Groneck
and GBBN colleagues Angela Mazzi , associate
principal, and Timothy Hsu, project research
leader, shared the business case for POEs, the
Jason Groneck
firm's process for delivering them, and tips
on how to do a post-occupancy evaluation inhouse without introducing bias.
Calling POE a " process with a purpose, " Groneck detailed some of the beneﬁts of conducting one, including being part of such a robust
process with a client, having the opportunity to
evaluate a project and compare the end result
with the initial project requirements, and testTimothy Hsu
ing stated design and performance goals. " By
learning from your last project, you have a chance to apply knowledge to
the next project and so on, " Groneck said. Furthermore, he said it's an opportunity to address issues collaboratively. " Often, we ﬁnd issues uncovered during a POE that can be easily addressed, " he said.
Acknowledging that perceived time and cost are some of the biggest
concerns when it comes to conducting POEs, Groneck said the process
can range from a few to hundreds of hours, depending on document
procedures. He added that there's a spectrum of tools available to assist,
from homegrown to advanced technologies. Groneck also advised that
design teams should clearly align expectations with their client about
what will be evaluated, set qualitative and quantitative goals, and measure results. Overall, he added that a POE offers a mindset and process to
guide and deﬁne work.
Mazzi said GBBN has worked to distill the POE process to a minimum
amount of information collected that will deliver enough rigor to justify
the cost and value. To do so, she said it's important to start in predesign
to begin collecting the right data and then study the same data at the end.
This information can be collected through a variety of steps, including
observations, surveys of patients and staff, interview/focus groups, and
system metrics. For observations, specifically, Mazzi recommended at
least three visits at peak times to really be in the space to see how it func-

DECEMBER 2020

tions. " If you go back a couple of times, you may
start to see patterns for unique moments, " she
said.
Additionally, she noted that most healthcare
organizations already collect system metrics,
such as employee retention, on-site injuries,
throughput, and patient satisfaction, that can
be valuable information on a POE. Design
team should ask their client for this data and
then have a discussion on what metrics the client wants to impact and what design measures
might address that. " We can demonstrate that
decisions led to this positive reduction in a way
the clients understand, " she said.
To ensure rigor in the process, Mazzi said
GBBN builds a ﬁrewall between the design team
and the POE team-a critical step, especially
when not using a third party. Furthermore, she
said it's important for the design team to be
clear on what the POE should study and then to
be curious about the findings, especially when
something doesn't turn out the way it was expected. " Learn from your failures, " she said.
The speakers shared some of the common
mistakes on a POE, as well, including conducting a study too soon-they recommended at
least a year and not past three years-and not
getting a representative sample, which can
skew results.
Overall, it's important to be clear on the
goals, including how, when, who, and what
will be studied, Hsu said. " Getting the critical
primary data-that's the most important
component. " -AD

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Healthcare Design - December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - December 2020