Introduction
Within the healthcare sector, having health system plays an essential role in hindering harm from affecting patients, their friends and families, volunteers, contract-service providers, and other persons whose undertakings revolve around healthcare organizations (HCOs). Emphasizing on safety in care provision ensures quality of care while it facilitate sin avoiding avoidable harm in line with ensuring that ideal care is available. In this vein, it becomes possible to offer effective services from those who realize benefits from them while avoiding harmful and ineffective services (Manolitzas, 2016) . When HCOs ensure to offer safer environments among patients, the workers also realize similar benefits and vice versa since the two are linked to similar underlying systemic and cultural issues. The hazards that face HCOs due to issues, such as fatigue, poor infection control, faulty equipment, or natural catastrophes lead to injury among the employees together with other parties working those institutions (Ginter, 2013) . Thus, the paper discusses ensuring that a HCO remains an environment of care. It does this by advocating for the need for designing HCO spaces for improved patient outcomes, planning ideal space utilization, utilizing benchmarks and goals to support security, sanitation, maintenance, and materials, using contract services to boost performance, and developing evacuation and emergency plans capable of handling natural disasters, large-scale accidents, and terrorism possibility.
Designing Space for Improved patient Outcomes
When it comes to designing HCO spaces to ensure that they contribute to improved patient outcomes, it is essential to ensure that equipment and architecture focuses on safe design standards as well as materials. The design of HCO is vital to emphasize on mostly because it serves as key force behind the emergence of avoidable hospital efforts, work related injuries and stress, as well as infections (Wickramasinghe, 2016) . For instance, poor ventilation in a room having several patients might result to nosocomial infections whereas inappropriate or inadequate lighting leads to poor outcomes among patients as well as medication errors (White & Griffith, 2016) . In this sense, it becomes essential to invest in invest in safer, better, and evidence-based design settings to boost healing and meeting the requirements of the healthcare professionals. Certain design elements are perceived as vital, including sound control, private rooms, ecological impact, air quality, as well as information stations (Tweedy, 2016) . New designs should consider addressing issues related to appearance, delivery robots, as well as wireless communication to ensure improved patient outcomes.
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HCOs should consider investing funds on upgrades and innovations, while they would be able to recover the costs incurred via increased revenue as well as operational savings. When the institutions invest in these areas, the leadership should emphasize on the need for strategic plans, which can facilitate in environmental promotion while minimizing stress within the HCOs. Ideal design serves as an evolution as opposed to deployment of radical changes improved design serves as a vital element in fostering continued improvement of HCOs’ operations (White & Griffith, 2016) . These institutions need to consider following building practices that revolve around performance, including adopting LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, which plays a critical role in boosting environmental sustainability while at the same time reducing waste and environmental impact in line with boosting environmental health among the public (Wickramasinghe, 2016) . The HCOs would feature visually welcoming atmospheres while at the same time preventing individuals from experiencing the dangers of unsafe healthcare settings.
Planning for Best Use of Space
Within the healthcare setting, it is essential to plan the environments in such a manner that they utilize space in an efficient and effective manner. The criterion that is utilized when it comes to allocating prevailing space is a simple one. Here, HCOs need to make sure that they utilize or dispose space in a manner that facilitates the attainment of the mission of the organization. In real life, this form of criterion poses challenges when trying to implement it (Wickramasinghe, 2016) . The reason for this is activities end up expanding that end up filling the existing space. In this sense, numerous complaints emerge regarding space shortages leading to the emergence of probable agendas for expansions or reallocations. With the shrinking of space, challenges emerge when it comes to reusing or recovering it. Space serves as unique and highly valuable. Space is also affiliated with symbolic rewards and prestige, such as where a space situated close to a doctor’s lounge is perceived as more prestigious as opposed to the one close to an employee’s office (Tweedy, 2016) . Here, numerous issues emerge when it comes to contesting decisions pertaining to space allocation.
To foster effective space planning, it is essential to follow certain guidelines. For instance, management of space should be the role of a single office, which is responsible for permitting occupancy in line with regulating space access. The office should be responsible for overseeing new programs in line with reviewing capital budget (Tweedy, 2016) . A key duty that the office should handle would entail preparing facilities to follow the master plan. The marketing and internal consulting staff helps in preparation efforts. For the draft plan, it results from the services plan, while the final is perceived as part of the package for planning. For the master plan, it should comprise of forecasts of certain commitments for prevailing and agreed space, new construction plans, and plans for equipment, building, land acquisition, and refurbishing and renovation requirements (Ginter, 2013) . The master plan should serve as a part of the long-term annual review and financial plan together with the approval process. When it comes to the services department within the HCO, it serves the role of constructing, acquiring, and renovating (Manolitzas, 2016) . The units using the space are the ones responsible for reviewing and approving the details concerning interior design.
Using Benchmarks and Goals to Support Security, Sanitation, Maintenance, and Materials Management Services
To support security, sanitation, maintenance, as well as material management services, it is crucial to utilize benchmarks and set goals. For an HCO to be considered as safe and attractive, it should assist in determining the attitudes as well as impressions that characterize individuals within an organization (Manolitzas, 2016) . It serves as a vital element that HCOs adopt as well as a vital promotional initiative that targets associates as well as patients. An ideal care environment should be reliable, safe, attractive, reliable, and economical. It should comprise of supplies, facilities, waste disposal, security, maintenance initiatives, and food services, which would have the capacity of delighting consumers. Healthcare environments need to offer comfort, safety, and sanitation, aside for the smallest, which entails food service (Tweedy, 2016) . They portray distinct healthcare needs. In the event of intense situations, hospitals that deal with acute car should offer overall environmental backing to visitors, staff, and patients. They should have additional water and power supplies, which would permit them to operate even during times of service disruptions (White & Griffith, 2016) . They need narrower humidity, temperature, cleanliness, air quality, and waste tolerances.
Some HCOs comprise of high human traffic, leading their vulnerability to property and personal risks to rise, especially those posed by terrorists. Diverse hazards, such as chemical spillage, fire, infection, radiation, as well as criminal violence might threaten the lives of visitors, employees, and patients (Manolitzas, 2016) . In this vein, it is crucial for HCOs to ensure that they develop their institutions and maintain them on a regular basis to ensure that their services remain transparent and pose zero harm, as a safety goal. Furthermore, it is crucial to offer sufficient training, support, as well as rewards for supervisors and service workers to allow them to handle distinct threatening situations effectively (Wickramasinghe, 2016) . HCOs should provide these individuals with updated knowledge concerning the location of every activity, event, and inpatient while at the same time having central advice points to gain advice on ways of dealing with unanticipated incidences.
Utilizing Contract Services to Boost Performance
To boost performance of HCOs, it is crucial to utilize contracting services, which would support ecological balance during the long-term. Key construction as well as renovation initiatives demand for extended external contracting. The conventional approach targets retaining firms responsible for managing construction, retaining architects, as well as general contractors (Ginter, 2013) . In the event of construction that derives finances directly from public finances, including public hospitals, a need arises for contracting them while following the formal bidding process. When it comes to private institutions, they emphasize on flexible arrangements whereby they would have the capacity of discussing contracts with chosen vendors (White & Griffith, 2016) . The recent innovations have made the process of contracting easier via merging different elements. For instance, turnkey construction entails individual contract aimed at ensuring that only the finished facility will be delivered. The benefits realized from speed and speed become apparent while a HCO is capable of reducing cost in the event that it makes adequate preparations while at the same time making sure that the entire process is subject to careful supervision. The internal staff normally handles small projects related to renovation. The institution can also consider offering construction management and design (Wickramasinghe, 2016) . Nonetheless, it is essential to compare the level of service that different contractors offer to determine the one that can offer high quality construction services.
Development of Evacuation and Emergency Plans for Handling Natural Disasters, Large-Scale Accidents, and Terrorism Probability
Healthcare organizations might be subject to threats related to natural disasters, broad accidents, and terrorism acts, which might require them to establish evaluation and emergency response plans. These should have the capacity of protecting visitors, associates, property, and patients. Here, it is crucial to note that visitors and associates might engage in violent acts. The threat is mostly high in the event of urban areas, while they might occur at night. Deploying high-quality services for enforcing security proves effective (Tweedy, 2016) . These play a critical role when it comes to monitoring the flow of traffic, regulating access, and offering and authenticating employee identification. These should work together with facilities planning and risk management to assist in establishing an atmosphere that reassures guests while at the same deterring individuals who might have destructive goals. In the event of emergency call systems and digital cameras, for example, they plan an essential role in boosting the surveillance scope. Here, it becomes increasingly essential to lay significant emphasis on areas perceived as high-risk, including parking areas and emergency departments (Ginter, 2013) . Guards with uniform are regarded as visible authority forms who are responsible for responding to concerns and questions in line with availing emergency help when such incidences emerge.
Regarding emergency response plans, they need to comprise of PPE (personal protective equipment) requirements in line with clear task assignments in line with having sufficient training for ensure that care workers remain safe. Inside HCOs, it is vital to handle wastes in an efficient and correct manner. For instance, clinical wastes are known for transmitting contagious illnesses (Wickramasinghe, 2016) . Furthermore, the existing processes should offer steps that would be followed in decontaminating patients requiring emergency care. Special decontamination facilities should exist in such incidences. It is also vital to conduct regular trills to identify probable threats (White & Griffith, 2016) . In addition, working together with other members within the community would assist in dealing with the various threats that might affect HCOs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, healthcare organizations should serve as environments of care. They should have the ability to offer care patients together with other stakeholders including associates, staff, and visitors among others. In this sense, it is essential to design them in such a manner that they contribute to improved patient outcome. The planning process should foster appropriate utilization of space while at the same time setting benchmarks and goals that can support security, sanitation, maintenance, and materials. Additionally, they should use contract services to allow them to improve their performance. Furthermore, it would be essential to have solid evaluation and emergency plans that would assist in handling natural disasters, major accidents, as well as terrorism possibility. Adhering to these areas would ensure that HCOs serve as environments devoted to delivering adequate care to the different stakeholders served.
References
Ginter, P. M. (2013). The strategic management of health care organizations. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Manolitzas, P. (2016). Effective methods for modern healthcare service quality and evaluation. Hershey: IGI Global.
Tweedy, J. T. (2016). Healthcare hazard control and safety management. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
White, K. R., & Griffith, J. R. (2016). The well-managed healthcare organization. Chicago: Health Administration Press.
Wickramasinghe, N. (2016). Handbook of research on healthcare administration and management. Boca Raton: IGI Global.
