The process of designing a healthcare facility has a special mission: to have a positive impact on its many users—including patients, families, visitors, nurses, physicians, and other clinical and non-clinical staff—while simultaneously fostering cost-effective operations. To achieve the best outcomes, it is important to involve a variety of stakeholders. An informed group can help to ensure a more efficient working process with architects and engineers, and can contribute to stronger, more broadly-based and more cost-effective decisions.

This course—the fifth in the six-course certificate program "Healthcare Facilities Design: Strategy & Innovation"—introduces the must-know concepts and related terminology of healthcare facility planning. The course touches on those aspects of capital improvement projects that a manager or stakeholder might encounter in a healthcare setting, including working from a budget to estimate potential sizing of facilities, estimating costs, and recognizing key features of architectural and engineering drawings. At the conclusion of the course, you will be a more intelligent consumer of information and a more effective participant in the healthcare facility planning and design process.