Facility designing around patient safety and its effect on nursing.

St. Joseph's Community Hospital of West Bend, a member of SynergyHealth, recognized the opportunity to improve patient safety through facility design. An independent, nonprofit, 80-bed acute hospital located in West Bend, WI, St. Joseph's Community Hospital is in the unique position of deciding to relocate and build a new hospital rather than remodel an existing facility. Sparked by the 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, "To Err is Human," St. Joseph's made patient safety its primary focus in designing a new hospital to increase patient safety and to enhance an organizational culture of safety.