Prisma Health, Surgery Family Waiting Room

McMillan Pazdan Smith provided full design services including architectural design, interior finish selection, and furniture specifications for this project at Greenville Memorial Hospital. Finishes throughout the space are warm, welcoming earth tones. Vinyl wood plank tiles cover heavier trafficked areas, with carpet tiles in the main seating and reception areas that allow easy cleaning (and replacing when necessary) — but provide some acoustical treatment to help control sound and provide warmth as a soft surface. Since the waiting room is an interior space with no exterior walls and minimal access to natural light, “windows” with 3form were created, and in some cases back-lit, to bring the outside in.

The Surgery Family Waiting Room was phase three of an eight phase renovation on the second floor, perioperative services areas at the hospital, and extended across three different construction projects, creating a variety of design challenges. This major renovation entailed a complete overhaul of the two small existing surgery waiting rooms as well as an existing office suite adjacent to the visitor elevators. These spaces enabled the design team to provide a new, larger waiting room that provides for the needs of family, visitors, and staff.

Due to the high-stress, high-anxiety nature of surgery, the hospital and our design team wanted the waiting area to be warm and inviting upon arrival. This philosophy informed finishes, furnishings, artwork, and the flow and access of the space. Upon exiting the elevators, guests arrive immediately in the waiting area, greeted at a semi-circular reception desk by volunteers and staff who  assist with questions and registration. Behind the reception desk is ample seating in a variety of smaller groupings that allow families to spread out and have more personal space than typically afforded in traditional waiting rooms.

A sitting area with tables overlooking the atrium provides visitors with a place to work or eat while remaining within close proximity for communication from clinical staff. A separate nourishment area with coffee and vending machines is accessible to guests. Booths, more removed from the sounds and movement of the waiting room but still close enough for communication, provide alternate seating options. An additional waiting section with larger arm chairs is kid-friendly, offers a low television for children’s programming, and is slightly removed from the main area to account for children’s noises that other guests may prefer to avoid.

Adjacent to the waiting space, between the public waiting room and the staff corridor, are 5 consult rooms, each of which feature a door from the waiting room and a door for staff to enter from the back hallway. New public restrooms were also included to provide necessary, additional facilities.