ZEELAND, MI - Herman Miller Inc. and Georgia Tech have won a grant from the Academy of Architecture for Health Foundation to conduct a joint research program, The title of their research proposal is "Designing Team Spaces to Support Collaboration and Communication in Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH)."

The research project focuses on “exploring the design of team spaces to support collaboration in patient centered medical home (models) for outpatient care," said Ross Westlake, Herman Miller national accounts manager and a researcher on the project.

Jennifer Dubose, the Georgia Tech lead researcher and SimTigrate Design Lab associate director, said the researchers will examine the “critical factors, care flow, and considerations affecting communication, collaboration and staff satisfaction that should be considered when designing and configuring a clinical team space such as those required to support PCMH clinics."

The Herman Mlller-Georgia Tech research project includes a review of existing literature, documentation of case studies, development of metrics and criteria to help teams assess the likely success of designs, using tools such as space syntax and process modeling. The project will also include development of a full scale mock up in the Georgia Tech SimTigrate Design Lab, utilizing a proposed process model to inform the design.

The researchers will present some of their initial findings about the design factors for shared workspaces in PCMH outpatient clinics at the Herman Miller Healthcare Showroom at NeoCon 2014,  June 9-11 at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.