Firstly, decide who your ideal patient will be. This is often referred to as a customer avatar, or in your case, a patient avatar. If you know who you want your patients to be and what services you want to deliver, you can make an informed choice about the medical design that will help you achieve your goals.
Make sure you check the zoning and rules for the premises you are considering. You don’t want to buy or sign a long-term lease on a property and find out that it cannot be used as a healthcare practice or that council have requirements you cannot meet.
It is also wise to talk to a design and construction company to make sure the square metreage and premises will meet your healthcare fit-out needs. Consider your long-term goals as well.
A brand is so much more than a logo. Work with a specialist to develop a brand that incorporates your values and is likely to attract your ideal patient. This will help you to communicate who you are to the world. Your brand should be unique, relevant, memorable and recognisable. Your brand will be incorporated into your healthcare fit-out through colours, design elements and signage.
Define your budget. Make sure you can afford the property, equipment, supplies and the healthcare practice fit-out. It’s sensible to talk to your financial adviser, bank and accountant, and look closely at your business plan to determine how much you need to spend to achieve your business goals.
Your design and construction company should take time to get to know you before they start producing healthcare design concepts. At Evoke Projects, we call this the “Explore” stage of the project. We want to know as much as we can about you, your patients, your staff and your vision for your practice. We’ll ask many questions to make sure we know exactly what you want to achieve. You shouldn’t move to the next step of the design process until you are confident the company you are working with truly understands your people and your purpose.
Healthcare professionals appreciate that the patient’s journey is paramount and that their comfort, both physically and emotionally, is a priority. Overly sterile medical fit-outs that are cold, uninviting and intimidating are likely to deter potential patients. Patients want an experience that is comfortable and reassuring.
At Evoke Projects, we believe that success lies in not only catering to your patients but also to your team’s needs. Why? Well, to start with, the work environment has been shown to be closely linked to job performance, so your team’s performance is intimately tied up with your business’ success.
There is also a shortage of healthcare professionals, meaning prospective employees can pick and choose who they work for. If you want a great team, you need to be an employer that people want to work for, otherwise known as an employer of choice.
People value their workplace environment. If they feel good in a space, they’re more likely to enjoy work, have a sense of well-being and a positive attitude towards coming to their place of employment every day.
A well-thought-out and perfectly delivered design can raise your team’s levels of satisfaction and happiness. Happy team members tend to take fewer days off, burn out less often, and stay with their employer for longer.
Each healthcare practice will have different goals, but they generally fit into an overall purpose of providing quality healthcare services to patients, improving health outcomes and making a profit.
Call Evoke Projects on 1300 720 692 to discuss a healthcare fit-out that prioritises people’s well-being and helps you to achieve your purpose.
