Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Venice opened in 2021, providing top-ranked medical and emergency services with 110 private patient rooms to a growing community. With rising demand, the facility was at capacity within a week of opening and quickly expanded with the opening of 102 additional beds in 2024.

To fine-tune the inpatient design for the expansion, a mixed-method post occupancy evaluation (POE) approach was used to understand high-performing design elements and apply lessons learned.

Flad and SMH-Venice COO Jeff Wesner will lead a PDC Summit presentation sharing insights from the POE. This presentation will also highlight how findings are being applied to the design of a new greenfield hospital that is expected to open in 2028.

Session Highlights:

• Demonstrate how to leverage The Center for Health Design resources and tools, such as the POE inpatient audit tool, to assess inpatient patient rooms and units.
• Showcase a staff questionnaire as an effective POE tool to gather invaluable feedback and to help inform future designs and continuous improvement opportunities.
• Compare and contrast findings from a recent POE on the new inpatient expansion that utilizes the same methods as the original POE with the addition of staff shadowing.

About the PDC Summit >
The International Summit & Exhibition on Health Facility Planning, Design & Construction brings together thousands of stakeholders from all disciplines of healthcare planning, design, and construction to advance the healthcare built environment. It is the only event that unites this many healthcare constructors, facilities staff, owners, and clinicians with designers and architects.