There are approximately 77.6 million children in the US. At some point during their development, all of them will need pediatric care of some kind. Almost all of them will need some kind of urgent care.

While parents' will take some of them to children's hospitals, others will seek out a pediatric urgent care clinic. Clinics are often closer than hospitals and routinely have shorter wait times.

Yet, a pediatric care facility creates more concerns than simple functionality. While adults will just go along with an antiseptic space to get the care they need, children generally require more in their healing environments.

If you're planning an urgent care facility for kids, keep reading for four things you should keep in mind.

1. Flexible Spaces

Kids, even sick kids, are sometimes rambunctious and easily bored. In other cases, they may find the exams or procedures frightening. If a child is frightened of the exam room, you must still conduct the exam.

You need flexible spaces that can accommodate more than one purpose. A flexible office space, for example, might let you do your paperwork and do the occasional exam if necessary.

2. Think with Family in Mind

Kids don't show up for medical appointments on their own as a general rule. That means that for every one patient, you'll have at least two people in your waiting room. In many cases, that means you'll have two people in your exam room as well.

You must account for those extra bodies when you're designing the clinic in the first place.

3. Engagement

Most adults handle boredom adequately. They don't love it, but they can make themselves sit quietly in a sparsely decorated space and wait.

Kids rarely do well in environments with nothing to engage them. Your clinic needs things to keep the kids engaged, even if it's just some animals painted on the wall. If you can handle the space requirements, including a play space or touch wall can go a long way to occupying the kids' attention.

4. Healing Environments

Clinics must often deal with less space than is ultimately ideal. Given the space limitations, it's all the more important to add features that promote the sense of the clinic as a healing environment.

Where possible, embrace natural light. Build with noise reduction in mind.

Pay attention to air quality control. If your clinic smells like chemicals, it's not going to enhance the calm of your young patients.

Building a Pediatric Urgent Care Clinic

Building a pediatric urgent care clinic differs from building other kinds of clinics. Kids bring special demands that designers can dismiss with a primarily adult population.

You'll want at least a few flexible spaces in the clinic. Design around the reality that the kids will show up with an adult in tow.

Provide some elements that will engage the kids' minds and keep them occupied. Look for ways you can enhance the healing environment, such as daylight, noise reduction, and air quality.

Arminco Inc. specializes in medical facility design and construction. For more information, contact Arminco Inc. today.