Blog Contribution by NIHD Member Marjorie Serrano, BSN, MArch, PNP, a recipient of the 2022 HCD Scholarship.
I was privileged to be one of two scholarship recipients provided by the NIHD Foundation to the 2022 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in San Antonio. I have been a member of NIHD since 2011. As an independent part-time consultant, it had been nine years since I was able to attend this conference. Networking with NIHD members was a delight, inspiring each other in our work, ideas and goals. As Kelly Guzman said in the July ‘22 NIHD newsletter,
“We are trailblazers and risk-takers and believe there is always room for improvement. . . We thrive on the opportunity to be innovators in our field.”
In addition to reconnecting with many friends & colleagues, I made new and exciting contacts for new work and collaboration. A part of my strategy at conferences is to frequently choose a seat with people I do not know, especially at meals where there is time to talk. This approach has served me well for all my years as a nurse and architect. My first Healthcare Design Conference + Expo was in 2007 when I received the Herman Miller scholarship for new architects. I arrived early to the first session which was almost full. Choosing a seat near the back, the man next to me introduced himself & asked my story. I was amazed to learn he was Roger Call, Director of Healthcare Architecture + Design at Herman Miller, the very company which had provided my scholarship. He was very encouraging to me as a new intern in the field of architecture.
Members and supporters of NIHD gather at a reception hosted annually at Healthcare Design Conference + Expo.
Some highlights of my “meet new people approach” this year include learning of:
—“Indigenous Pact”, a company founded by one man based on his family’s personal healthcare needs. They assist tribal groups across the nation to choose their designers and consultants wisely and guide them through the process of developing healthcare facilities tailored to their tribes’ unique needs.
—New knowledge and connections in the fight for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) in our professions and our world. I recommend that you connect with and check out the work of an awesome team—Tammy Thompson, Taft Cleveland & Espy Harper, all architects of color who have an amazing talent for sharing personal experiences, needs and solutions in the area of healthy communities and equitable facility design. Espy described facilities which do not consider the needs of the wider community of color in a very kind but apt word —“peachy”. Peachy architecture is prevalent in our country and is accepted as the norm. Bringing diversity into our design teams and assisting the local community to voice their needs and desires will break that cycle, providing facilities and systems that serve everyone effectively.
—I was very encouraged by hearing the questions and comments in many sessions, particularly in the clinical track. Genuine deep questions were asked by architects/designers who want to resolve the difficult problems addressed. Impassioned pleas for improvements in healthcare process and the design to promote it came from clinicians and those who know and love them. It is encouraging to know that people from all backgrounds and disciplines are hearing the need and willing to join us in changing our world.
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The positives:
+Network & multidisciplinary collaboration
+Scholarships and research grants provided by NIHD
+Quality clinical sessions which attract & support diverse knowledge seekers to broaden our effectiveness.
+Research reports that are not dry or boring & communicate quite effectively.1
+Overall more projects at this conference, compared to several years ago, are presented with honesty about challenges and lessons learned rather than only sharing positive outcomes. We learn more from our mistakes than from successes. We will never accomplish significant improvements in healthcare by replicating the same solutions.
What should change?
-Women in general, especially female nurses, are our own worst enemies. We expect so much of ourselves in life that we wear out, burn out, or live with the constant feeling of not doing/being enough. Successful women of color are even more likely to live this role, feeling the constant pressure of representing their gender and their ethnicity in business, family & community life. We tend to see others who are “Super Achievers” and expect the same or more from ourselves. We can do better in setting realistic expectations, seeking what restores us each day, and supporting each other to do the same.
-Cost of conferences to individual participants is astronomical & unnecessary. Conference leadership, manufacturers, vendors, firms should be paying us to speak, listen & contribute our knowledge; not charging us to attend, speak & publish for free. I realize that most of the HCD member groups are non-profits, but the companies that exhibit and present this and other industry conferences make a hefty profit.
-How do we broaden our audience? While those who have some sense of how difficult the job of healthcare is spoke up in many sessions, there are thousands of people in the design profession who do not even realize the deep needs. Many have good intentions but lack the empathy or understanding to see what is missing. A vision of a more equitable world or how they need to contribute is not on their radar. Others give lip service to diversity, clinicians’ needs and healthcare improvements but that is as far as they go. Buried in their own world of challenges to complete their daily work, they fail to realize that we are all part of the problem and can be part of the solutions. We can each set goals to educate ourselves and our colleagues to advance our individual and collective wellness.
NIHD Member Marjorie Serrano, pictured far right, participating in a pre-conference workshop at Healthcare Design Conference + Expo.
A challenge:
NIHD has always had very active members who are not nurses but are from other clinical backgrounds. I believe we would have more like-minded innovators and accomplish more if we embraced and recruited other clinical voices. The name of NIHD has become well known, but we should consider a better way to highlight other clinicians, remembering always to describe our group as “nurses and other healthcare professionals”.
Yes, most of us are nurses and there is a camaraderie in that which is quite valuable. Perhaps we see things too much alike at times. Variety is a benefit to every group. Diversity in gender, ethnicity, thought & teaching/learning styles is essential to solving the wicked, gnarly challenges in healthcare.
Recommendations:
1. Alan Alda’s amazing book, “If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?” It is a great resource for researchers and all of us who want to communicate more effectively.
2. “Be the Bridge” is a nonprofit group with many resources and training programs to help individuals and groups learn to address racism and systemic injustice in our society. See https://bethebridge.com