The Wall Street Journal: Dr. Bassin on design's ability to transform emergency medicine
September 3, 2026
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The Wall Street Journal features Dr. Ben Bassin in their latest Pro Perfected video, which takes a deep, hands-on look at the past, present and future of emergency department (ED) design.
In The Wall Street Journal Pro Perfected video, Dr. Bassin details the different ways that EDs can be designed and the associated impacts on patients, staff and family members. These details include insights on:
- The origins of the ED in healthcare
- How patients are evaluated when they arrive at an emergency care center
- The numerous pressures on American healthcare that impact emergency medicine
- The key spaces in an ED: the waiting area, triage, patient care rooms, etc.
- Different ED layout approaches — traditional, the "Disney" model and racetrack
- What TV shows like ER and The Pitt get right and wrong about emergency medicine
Dr. Bassin also highlights the University of Cincinnati Health's redesigned ED as a leading example of future-focused emergency medicine design. He also offers initial thoughts on how robotics, AI and other innovative technologies might impact these spaces in the future.
Dr. Bassin is deeply qualified to share these insights as the former director of emergency critical care at Michigan Medicine, the first emergency department-based intensive care unit in the United States.
Now as our company's first-ever Physician Executive in Residence, Innovation, Dr. Bassin continues to serve as a clinical professor and attending physician. This dual role allows him to practice medicine while also helping health institutions around the world rethink the design, strategy and operations that fuel their emergency medicine departments.
