S2 E2 – Built Environment Impacts on Operations and the Patient Experience

Introduction

Woven into any patient’s health care experience is the environment in which they are treated. Questions about cleanliness and quietude appear on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey; the results of which determine how much funding is provided (or removed) from health care facilities by CMS.  

In this episode, recorded at ASHE’s Health Care Facilities Innovation Conference last month (July 2024), guests Jeff O’Neill and Kathy Easter, both of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, engage in discussion about where the patient experience and the Guidelines (soon to be the FGI Facility Code) intersect. 

About Jeff O’Neill, AIA, ACHA, CHFM 

Jeff O’Neill is the vice president of plant operations at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, part of the RWJ Barnabas Health System. Jeff is a registered architect in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in addition to holding a health care planning certification from the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA) and a Certified Health Facility Manager (CHFM) certification from the American Hospital Association. Jeff is a member of professional societies including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Society for Healthcare Engineers (ASHE), and the International Code Council (ICC). Jeff is also involved in the building code development process, serving on several committees for the ICC as well as FGI’s Health Guidelines Revision Committee for the 2026 revision cycle. 

 

About Kathy Easter, MSN, RN, CCRN 

Kathy Easter is the assistant vice president for nursing excellence at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, part of the RWJ Barnabas Health System. In her role, Kathy leads the patient experience department, volunteer department, and the Magnet Recognition Program. Kathy’s primary focus is to support and promote safety, service, and quality initiatives for patients, families, and the nursing and interdisciplinary workforces—recognizing that those working closest to point of service are instrumental in achieving excellent outcomes. Kathy has presented at local, regional, national, and international conferences on a variety of safety, service, and quality initiatives.

 

 

Acronyms Mentioned 

FGI: Facility Guidelines Institute 

HCAHPS: Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems 

CMS: Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services

ED: emergency department 

NICU: neonatal intensive care unit 

HVAC: heating, ventilation, and air conditioning 

ICC: International Code Council 

 

Mentioned in this episode

Health Care Facilities Innovation Conference 

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital 

American Academy of Nursing 

Magnet Recognition Program 

American Nurses Credentialing Center 

Press Ganey Survey 

Behavioral health crisis centers 

Dr. Scott Zeller 

ICC model codes 

Tony Ruebsam, Northstar Management Company 

Functional program 

Sleep disorder centers 

Alarm fatigue 

 

AIA self-reporting LUs

Facility Guidelines Institute is a registered provider of AIA-approved continuing education under Provider Number 38744124. All registered AIA CES Providers must comply with the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs. Any questions or concerns about this provider or this learning program may be sent to AIA CES (cessupport@aia.org). 

This learning program may be self-reported for LU credit through the AIA Continuing Education System. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA. 

To receive AIA self-reported LUs, learners must complete and self-report two of these entire learning programs for 1 LU. 

 

Sponsored by

American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE): Optimizing health care facilities

 

 

 

Transcript (download transcript)