Physicians, nurses, IT, maintenance and other staff are getting their first chance to test drive the details of patient rooms at UCLA Health’s new neuropsychiatric hospital under construction in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Prototypes of two patient rooms, adjacent bathrooms, and an interior corridor were built to provide hospital clinicians and others an opportunity to inspect details and propose refinements to the design and furnishings prior to the full-scale buildout.
The idea is to validate that the design works as intended and that installation details and quality-control measures are met. This is intended to help ensure the safety of the clinical care environment for behavioral health patients. UCLA Health’s contractor is also using the mock-up to facilitate efficiency of construction activities when building more than 100 rooms.
At the first inspection and tour on June 14, staff were not shy about poking, prodding, yanking and scrutinizing all aspects of the mock-up rooms, including ceiling fixture locations, bedding materials, furniture and ligature- and tamper-resistant hardware and finishes. The mock-ups also include tested options for such items as soap dispensers, doors, shower heads, and grab bars.
“There has been countless number of hours and extensive thought over the past two to three years that have gone into the design and what we are putting into the new hospital,” said Dr. Erick Cheung, chief medical officer of the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA. “Seeing it for the first time is really wonderful, being able to touch the materials and imagine how patients will benefit from this space.”
Over the next several months, many others will tour the mock-ups and offer feedback on potential refinements. Some will use the rooms for workflow and operational planning.
Similarly, a mock-up of a section of the building exterior was built to plan for construction sequencing, inspection and testing prefabricated panels off-site. The process helps ensure compatibility and performance of the building components.
The mock-ups are an important milestone for the five-story, 119-bed hospital project planned for completion in 2026. The state-of-the-art hospital will relocate and expand the 74-bed UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital located within Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on the university’s main campus in Westwood. It also will include a dedicated care area for crisis stabilization services, an asset not available in Westwood.
The neuropsychiatric hospital project is located on the site of the former Olympia Medical Center, which UCLA acquired in January 2021 following its closure. The acquisition also included a medical office building and parking structure. These buildings are part of separate but concurrent projects to build out new clinic spaces for the licensed behavioral health outpatient and partial hospital (day) programs that will relocate from Westwood, as well as seismic upgrades and infrastructure enhancements.
Designs for the new hospital were informed by extensive input from physicians, nurses and others. UCLA Health Chief Operating Officer Richard Azar said it’s exciting to see the latest technologies and equipment in person and the planning coming to fruition.
“It’s important to view things in advance, and to make sure all devices are where you want them located and everything meets our expectations before proceeding,” Azar said during the June 14 tour.
Based on input from UCLA Health stakeholders, the center’s construction team led by McCarthy Building Companies Inc. and design, architecture, engineering and planning firm HOK will alter designs as necessary.
Suzanne Kiely, project manager with UCLA Health real estate, planning design and construction, emphasized the importance of confirming numerous design and sequencing details before constructing and procuring for hundreds of rooms. Similar processes to validate patient room design were used during construction of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, which opened in 2008. Kiely and Azar had key roles on that project as well.
“We want to make sure we’ve got it all 100% right before we commit to pushing the button at the factory,” Kiely said.
