Emergency triage at the Triemli site | Stadtspital Zürich

Context

The Zurich City Hospital is facing extensive construction investments to ensure a sustainable hospital infrastructure. In complex areas such as initial assessment (triage) in particular, planning decisions in the early stages of a project can have far-reaching implications for safety, workflows, data protection and quality of stay. At the same time, high cost and time pressures as well as changing operational requirements make it difficult to reliably assess planned rooms based solely on plans and visualisations. Wrong decisions in the early stages often lead to costly adjustments during operation or after commissioning.

Approach

The SCDH is designing and implementing a full-day simulation workshop at the simulation facility in Nidau. This is based on the current planning status of the emergency triage at the Triemli site. In realistic usage scenarios – routine operations, emergency situations and night duty – spatial configurations, sightlines, processes and interfaces are reviewed together with employees of the Zurich City Hospital. Walk-in 1:1 projections, corrugated cardboard walls, mock-ups and context-specific furniture allow planned rooms to be experienced first-hand. The simulation enables the systematic analysis of safety aspects, privacy, workflow efficiency and potential for standardisation. 

The findings are prioritised according to evidence-based design criteria and recorded in a structured report.

Benefits

• Funding from Smart City Zurich's innovation credit enables the use of simulations as an innovative planning tool to be systematically tested and evaluated.
• Simulation-based evaluation allows planning assumptions to be reviewed at an early stage and provides a sound basis for decision-making for further project development. Potential weaknesses in terms of safety, data protection, spatial impact and processes become apparent before construction measures are implemented.
• The active involvement of employees strengthens user acceptance and ensures that real workflows and needs are incorporated into the planning.
• Simulation helps to reduce planning errors and follow-up costs and supports the development of efficient, safe and patient-oriented emergency structures.
• The insights gained can be used beyond the Triemli site as a reference for further construction and renovation projects at Zurich City Hospital.