Silver Cross Hospital's recently opened data center puts it at the forefront of an emerging healthcare trend: Combining construction of new hospitals with new data centers to offer the latest in technology and accommodate an explosion in applications and patient data--not just documents, but images and videos.
With the February, 2012 opening of its 600,000-sf, $370 million medical complex with outpatient center, medical service building and hospital, the New Lenox Ill. community hospital needed to update and expand its aging data resources, which were already operating at capacity. With its new 2,450-sf data center, 50% larger than its existing one, patients and staff are already enjoying the benefits of new technology.
Silver Cross became one of the first hospitals to install patient tracking software so families know where a patient is at all times. New communication equipment supports wireless voice and data networks throughout the hospital, providing access to patients and their families while freeing clinicians to use phones and computers where needed instead of based on location. Also, medical telemetry enables remote monitoring of patient vital signs.
Other leaders, including OSF's new Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria and the soon-to-open Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, have combined new data centers with new medical facilities. Together, they are laying a technology foundation for the emerging era in healthcare that will be dominated by electronic patient records and new care delivery approaches that require real-time coordination and information exchange among multiple providers, payers, patients, and locations.
Given the escalating IT demands, growth of bigger and better healthcare data centers is only likely to strengthen. In a fall, 2011 survey by Mortenson of 90 data center and facilities experts at the 7x24 Exchange Conference, 92% of respondents ranked healthcare as the industry with the greatest need for new data centers in the next five years. +
Related Stories
Data Centers | Oct 14, 2016
Where data centers meet design
As technology continues to evolve, we have to simultaneously adapt and help our clients think beyond the short term, writes Gensler's Martin Gollwitzer.
Architects | Oct 13, 2016
Dallas architects recognized at 2016 AIA Dallas Built Design Awards
Six Texas-based projects lauded for design excellence.
Architects | Oct 11, 2016
A good imagination and a pile of junk: How maker culture is influencing the way AEC firms solve problems
“Fail” is no longer a dirty four-letter word: for maker culture, it has become a crucial stop along the way
Architects | Oct 4, 2016
Video blog: How to future-proof your workplace
Larry Lander, a Principal with PDR and a registered architect, discusses how modularity can improve a workplace for the business and the individual.
Architects | Sep 30, 2016
Ugly soviet parking garage takes on appearance of a cascading waterfall
Architect Ignas Lukaskas worked in conjunction with Vieta and the Vilnius Street Art festival to transform the building.
Architects | Sep 30, 2016
HOK partners with Delos to accredit its designers as wellness professionals
They are also working on the first WELL-certified city district, in Tampa, Fla.
Architects | Sep 29, 2016
Join Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture’s partners Adrian Smith, Gordon Gill, and Robert Forest for “AS+GG At Ten”
The event is a presentation of their work spanning the past 10 years.
Architects | Sep 29, 2016
Design culture in Dubai draws increased international attention
Innovation and sustainability drive an increasingly global design culture in Dubai.
Architects | Sep 29, 2016
Space architecture is making the leap from science fiction to reality
3D printed domes and inflatable living spaces are just some of the ideas for how to create habitable spaces on Martian planets.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Sep 28, 2016
Architecture conservation efforts begin at Salk Institute of Biological Studies
Getty-led research and funding leads to important site repairs and long-term conservation management planning.