‘Beyond Fundamentals’ responds to dynamic health care environment

FGI's guide for outpatient facilities

Concurrent with the release of the 2018 edition of the Guidelines for Design and Construction, the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI) introduced a subscription-based “Beyond Fundamentals” service. Although the Guidelines content is updated every four years, health care trends and innovations emerge and evolve much more rapidly, significantly affecting the planning, design and construction of health and residential care facilities. Beyond Fundamentals was conceived as a way to respond to this dynamic environment.

The Beyond Fundamentals library augments the FGI Guidelines documents by expanding on their minimum design requirements. As it continues to grow, the Beyond Fundamentals library will offer new and exclusive content in response to trends, practices and new technologies in health and residential care settings. Among the Beyond Fundamentals topics that FGI is preparing for 2018 are detailed discussions of Guidelines requirements and how to apply them, research and tools related to requirements in the Guidelines, draft minimum requirements supported by research or other evidence, and emerging trends in practice that promise to change health care facility design. Resources will be presented in various formats, including white papers, videos, reports and checklists.

Beginning with the 2018 Guidelines, a Beyond Fundamentals subscription will be included with an annual single-user or site license through MADCAD and offered to print book purchasers and others as a $25 per year subscription. As FGI continues to develop the Beyond Fundamentals library, subscribers can expect timely information and guidance regarding the latest thinking on how the built environment can better support people, practices and developing technology in health care settings.

Heather Livingston, associate editor at the Facility Guidelines Institute.