As one of Intermountain’s largest improvement projects on record, a replacement project happening at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo brings together the best in hospital design and clinical performance to benefit patients, physicians and employees alike.

Hospital design has changed significantly over the years and has traditionally focused on either the patient experience or operational efficiency for caregivers. Utah Valley Hospital’s replacement project aims to meet both needs and is likely to be a model for future construction projects within the Intermountain system and beyond.

The $430 million project officially began June 17, 2015, and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2018. Included in the construction are a new 12-story patient tower and a new nine-story outpatient clinic building. Transformational features of the new design include:

• Identically designed patient rooms: Any of the rooms in the hospital will be able to accommodate any patient, no matter what his or her condition is. The functionality of all rooms will be the same in the new building, allowing the hospital to flex its space, expanding and contracting units according to patient needs.
  
  
• The Emergency Department’s Observation Unit will give patients whose conditions do not require immediate admission to the hospital a comfortable place to rest while physicians monitor their progress.
  
  
• Improved department adjacencies and treatment spaces that will physically bring together hospital services: Heart and Cancer Services are two examples of departments that are spread throughout the hospital. Bringing services together will increase efficiencies and productivity.
  
  
• A healing garden to support physical and emotional healing: The design of the garden will be welcoming for patients, staff and visitors at the hospital, but also for community members striving for a healthier lifestyle.
  
  
• Larger, all-private patient rooms: The majority of the hospital’s patient rooms were built in the late 1970s and can no longer accommodate today’s equipment needs or patient expectations.
  
  
• Decentralized nurse stations outside each patient room: Changing from the traditional centralized nurse station has been shown to increase time at the bedside, improve patient safety, generate higher satisfaction scores and lead to less disruption for patients.

The new buildings will give caregivers the improved technology needed to help shorten or eliminate a patient’s stay in the hospital and allow patients and their families more room when a hospital stay is required. With these design improvements in place, Utah Valley Hospital will be positioned at the forefront of local healthcare for decades to come. It’s just one example of how Intermountain is striving to meet the needs of the community in a responsible way.