Expanding a pharmacy and cancer treatment center without interruption

Penn Medicine - Chester County Hospital Cancer Center

With an increasing demand for space, the Penn Medicine Chester County Hospital needed to expand their outpatient cancer center—we got to work designing a supportive environment that would meet their needs for years to come.

The cancer center occupies two floors within a medical office building and includes a 25-exam room oncology practice and 24 patient infusion stations. There are multiple pods that are occupied by four infusion stations, single open stations and private rooms giving patients different setting opportunities.

With the expansion of the cancer center, the infusion pharmacy needed to grow too—it went from a one room pharmacy at 250 square feet to a 1,000 square foot pharmacy. It includes six rooms, including a workroom, waiting area, two buffer rooms, hazard storage and a medication room.

The project was designed and constructed under three phases which needed to leave the original infusion stations and pharmacy up and operating during the first two phases. This challenged both the design team and the clinical staff to work through a design process that provided the desired outcome and configuration, while at the same time realizing the limitations of the phased construction and adjacent occupied space. To top it off, the pharmacy is USP 797 and 800 compliant.