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Letter From The Editor
In this issue we are pleased to bring you the exciting news that Dubai Healthcare City will launch a world-class tertiary care teaching hospital. This story has been developing for several months, as faculty from HMI, health care leaders in Dubai, a team of architects from a top firm, and clinical and administrative experts from throughout the Harvard medical community have worked together to design every component of the University Hospital.
Feature Stories
Dubai Healthcare City announces development of new University Hospital
Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) has announced that it will launch the University Hospital, a new tertiary care teaching hospital that will be a regional hub for world-class patient care and continuous learning. The 400-bed medical center—designed in collaboration with Harvard Medical International (HMI)—is part of Dubai’s overall vision to become a globally recognized center of excellence for health care delivery, medical education, and research. While DHCC continues to develop into a locus for high-quality health care providers offering a variety of services, the University Hospital is being designed to raise significantly the standard for multidisciplinary integrative care in the Gulf Region.
The University Hospital will be the core of a new academic medical environment in Dubai, said Ahmad Sharaf, Senior Vice-President of Tatweer, which oversees DHCC. “'Our commitment to delivering exceptional outcomes begins with attracting best quality professionals and providing them with the resources and technologies for optimum success,” he said. “The underlying principle of this new medical institution will be the health and well-being of the community. The hospital will also serve as the cornerstone for a new era in health care excellence within DHCC.”
HMI and DHCC have employed a unique planning process to manage the complexities of the hospital’s design and development, covering everything from clinical program design to architectural and space planning, from operational and IT systems infrastructure to workforce development. More than 30 health care professionals from top hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School and other institutions have participated, working with the core planning teams to integrate important advances and key trends in their specialty areas into the vision of the UH. The schematic design work for the new hospital has been led by internationally recognized architectural firm Ellerbe Becket.
The guiding philosophy behind the process, said HMI Director of Planning Judy Mitchell, AIA, was to “consistently strive to make decisions and create solutions that resulted in a patient-centered environment where patients want to go for care and where top health care professionals want to practice and teach utilizing the latest health care technologies—all with complete confidence.”
HMI's role has been to provide oversight in the design and development of the facility, including clinical program development, equipment selection, health information and IT systems development, the development and implementation of clinical quality guidelines and an operational plan, architectural design and construction oversight, and recruitment of the medical and administrative leadership.
Close connection with new knowledge
Education and access to information will be a defining feature of the University Hospital. The ambulatory clinics will feature patient resource centers offering information to patients and families about their health care. The hospital will also be physically connected to the new home of the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center (HMSDC) Institute for Postgraduate Education & Research, which began construction earlier this year.
HMSDC, also a collaboration of DHCC and HMI, is the focal point of Dubai’s efforts to become a regional center of excellence for medical education, research infrastructure development, and postgraduate training for health care professionals in the Gulf Region. The new hospital will serve an important educational role for physicians, faculty, allied health professionals, and patients and their families.
Forward-looking design
A major focus of the design of each environment within the academic medical center is the desire to break down traditional barriers between specialties and create pathways for multidisciplinary care truly centered around the patients’ needs. Diagnostic and treatment modalities have been integrated throughout ambulatory and inpatient areas. “This has tremendous benefits for the experiences of both patients and clinicians,” said Mitchell. She added that the design anticipates increasingly complex procedures being performed in a
n outpatient setting, as well as a critical role for imaging, not only in diagnostics but in treatments utilizing image-guided interventional procedures.
The planning team is working to create forward-looking designs developed around a flexible integrative care model. Acute care rooms and intensive care rooms will feature universal designs allowing the flexibility to be utilized according to shifting patient needs.
The hospital’s clinical plan will include both inpatient and outpatient consultations and surgeries, imaging, clinical and surgical pathology, minimally invasive procedures, and non-trauma emergency care. The hospital will offer signature clinical programs across a wide range of specializations.
Concurrent with the development of the hospital’s clinical program planning, architectural design, and construction planning, HMI and DHCC have focused on hospital equipment and operations planning, including the development of a state-of-the-art health care information and IT system. Albert Gillis, RT, MBA, HMI Director of Health Care Facilities Development, said the IT system is expected to be “a key contributor not only to quality of care and patient safety but also to efficient and cost-sensitive hospital operations.”
DHCC has already broken ground on the University Hospital and plans to open its doors to patients in 2011. It is envisioned that the hospital campus will comprise 1.4 million square feet of clinical and laboratory space, faculty offices, and amenities for patient families and staff. A hotel will be built adjacent and connected by a bridge.
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