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
| Jan 22, 2015
Architecture Billings Index rebounds at end of 2014
The American Institute of Architects reported the December ABI score was 52.2, up from a mark of 50.9 in November. This score reflects an increase in design activity.
| Jan 21, 2015
From technician to rainmaker: Making the leap in your career
Many AEC firms focus on training for the hard skills of the profession, not so much for business prowess, writes BD+C's David Barista.
Modular Building | Jan 21, 2015
Chinese company 3D prints six-story multifamily building
The building components were prefabricated piece by piece using a printer that is 7 meters tall, 10 meters wide, and 40 meters long.
| Jan 21, 2015
Tesla Motors starts construction on $5 billion battery plant in Nevada
Tesla Motors’ “gigafactory,” a $5 billion project on 980 acres in Sparks, Nev., could annually produce enough power for 500,000 electric cars.
| Jan 20, 2015
Daring hotel design scheme takes the shape of cut amethyst stone
The Dutch practice NL Architects designed a proposal for a chain of hotels shaped like a rock cut in half to reveal a gemstone inside.
| Jan 20, 2015
Avery Associates unveils plans for London's second-tallest tower
The 270-meter tower, dubbed the No. 1 Undershaft, will stand next to the city's "Cheesegrater" building.
| Jan 20, 2015
AIA course: Building with brick, stone, and masonry
Earn 1.0 AIA/CES learning units by studying this article and successfully completing the online exam.
| Jan 19, 2015
HAO unveils designs for a 3D movie museum in China
New York-based HAO has released designs for the proposed Bolong 3D Movie Museum & Mediatek in Tianjin.
| Jan 19, 2015
Gaudi’s first work outside Spain will be a chapel in Chile
Nearly 100 years after Antoni Gaudí’s death, Chile will begin constructing a chapel using his designs.
| Jan 19, 2015
Architecture for Humanity closes office, plans to file for bankruptcy
After more than 15 years of work, the nonprofit design group Architecture for Humanity has closed its San Francisco office and plans to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.