Project Update: OSU Doan Hall NICU

The Ohio State University has had a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) unit ever since the hospital started doing deliveries and taking care of newborns through their emergency department. The current NICU is located on the sixth floor of Doan Hall in the Medical Center campus.

The original OSU NICU department in Doan Hall was built in 1983 when the space, power, ventilation, physiological monitoring and other requirements were much less than what they are today. The University has addressed this by building larger, more up-to-date patient rooms on the sixth floor over the years as space became available. However, with space in a fully occupied hospital being at a premium, room for expanding the existing NICU space has been difficult to obtain. An area of the seventh floor became vacant and created an opportunity that allowed some support services of the NICU department to be relocated there from the sixth floor. This relocation provided space to enlarge the existing NICU department, creating additional NICU beds in private patient rooms and other direct support rooms. The final layout has allowed the NICU department to better divide their patients based on the level of required care. The unit became more streamlined and the workflow more focused.

After multiple phases of work, the revised portion of the unit became fully operational late last year. The only remaining work is a parents’ corridor that is currently being completed. All work on this project was done while the NICU remained fully operational. A refresh and other updates to the remaining parts of the larger NICU unit were completed at the beginning of the project so the overall space would look, feel and operate as a cohesive unit.

HAWA’s team of engineers designed the project with M+A Architects, and Elford did the construction. With these two firms as partners, along with the many individuals from the owner’s group, we were able to deliver a successful project that provides improved services and outcome to patients, their families and the medical staff – something that all involved can be proud of creating.