CHCC全国医院建设大会

In recent years, the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University has embarked on an ambitious journey to redefine what it means to be a child-friendly hospital, moving beyond traditional facility expansion to a holistic reimagining of care, design, and operational processes. Its approach offers valuable insights for hospital leaders worldwide who are seeking to balance efficiency, patient experience, and family-centered care in pediatric settings.

Building for Children: Beyond Physical Infrastructure

Child-friendly care begins with the hospital environment, but it extends far beyond bricks and mortar. In 2022, Chongqing Children’s Hospital launched a comprehensive renovation of its Yuzhong campus, a project that will continue through 2027. The initiative upgrades wards, outpatient clinics, and public spaces, all while maintaining uninterrupted medical services. At the same time, the Liangjiang campus has served as a prototype “Hospital of the Future,” integrating child-centered principles from the earliest stages of design.

The guiding principle is simple yet profound: integrate children's needs into every detail. Rather than merely increasing space, the hospital focuses on creating environments where children feel comfortable, parents feel supported, and care processes reduce family anxiety. Child-friendliness here is not about decorative touches; it is a systematic rethinking of architecture, spatial design, and functional layout—building a medical ecosystem that supports healing, safety, and family engagement.


A Child's Perspective in Spatial Design

Designing spaces through the lens of a child transforms every decision. Hospital President Gao Yong emphasizes that children are not “miniature adults.” Their physical, emotional, and psychological needs differ fundamentally from adult patients, and hospital standards must reflect this reality.

Ward design exemplifies this philosophy. The hospital is gradually increasing the proportion of single rooms to over 80%, reducing noise, stress, and cross-interference inherent in shared spaces. Private accommodations for parents ensure that family presence supports recovery without compromising comfort or dignity. For children with special needs or serious illnesses, accessibility is only the baseline. Privacy, infection control, and subtle care interventions—including robotic delivery systems and environmental controls for temperature and humidity—are integrated throughout the facility.

Color psychology also plays a critical role. Soft, bright tones in wards and clinics reduce anxiety and fear, demonstrating how design can support emotional well-being alongside medical care. This integration of functionality and empathy exemplifies the hospital's holistic approach.


Transforming the Care Process

If the hospital’s physical infrastructure is the “skeleton,” its care processes are the “nerve endings” that bring it to life. At Chongqing Children’s Hospital, outpatient services have become a focal point for innovation, emphasizing both efficiency and emotional support.

(1)Smart technology for efficiency:
Managing over 12,000 daily outpatient visits, the hospital uses AI-assisted pre-consultation tools, smart appointment systems, VR navigation, and indoor positioning to streamline scheduling and reduce wait times. Online pre-screening and automated billing at the fever clinic have cut repeat visits by 25%, while AI-guided triage ensures timely care for all children.

(2)Humanized design for comfort:
Automation reduces blood test turnaround from 50 minutes to 20, while priority lanes protect fasting children from hypoglycemia. “Narrative therapy,” using storytelling to distract children during procedures, along with themed treatment rooms, transforms clinical encounters into less intimidating experiences. Centralized specimen collection minimizes the need for families to navigate multiple locations, reducing stress and improving workflow.

(3)Extended services for continuity:
Care extends beyond the hospital walls. Doctors guide families in accessing results via multiple channels—online platforms, phone, and WeChat—reducing delays, particularly for out-of-town patients. For long-term therapies such as growth hormone treatment, video guidance and home follow-ups via an “AI Family Doctor” platform allow professional care to continue seamlessly at home.

Together, these innovations demonstrate that child-friendly outpatient services are not merely about faster procedures—they ensure that every child is seen, and every family feels supported.

Setting New Standards Through Collaboration

Historically, hospitals adapted adult-oriented standards to pediatric care. Today, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University is helping lead a global shift toward co-creating standards that reflect children’s unique needs.

Two key initiatives underpin this effort:

(1)Leveraging technology to enhance human-centered care. Intelligent environmental controls, automated logistics, and AI-supported systems enable spaces to respond dynamically to children’s and families’ needs.

(2)Translating experience into scalable standards. Collaborating with design firms and peer institutions, the hospital converts practical insights—room ratios, family accommodations, flexible layouts—into guidelines that can be adopted by other hospitals. For example, multi-bed rooms for children require more flexible arrangements than adult wards, a nuance now codified into emerging pediatric design standards.

This transition—from adapting existing norms to co-creating new ones—represents a fundamental paradigm shift in pediatric hospital planning.

The Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University shows that hospitals can be both efficient and compassionate. By treating children as whole individuals and making child-friendly care practical—from thoughtful spaces to supportive policies—we enhance medical experiences and foster a life-centered culture in society.

Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/CbX-15fzh4_LW_iaEUWYuQ