Better Design for Better Care

Evidence-based healthcare design dramatically improves patient outcomes and staff performance. Studies show that carefully curated environments (including single-patient rooms, naturally/strategically lit environments, and noise controlled-environments) can reduce negative effects like depression, sleep disruption, fall risk, and agitated behavior in patients. ¹

Meticulous planning and organization creates a healthcare environment that functions like a well-oiled machine. The designers’ main considerations when designing healthcare facilities are Cost/Operational Impact; Staff Efficiency & Space Planning; Accessibility & Flexibility; Safety & Infection Control; and most importantly, Patient-Centeredness. Clients need a design that finds the intersection between patient satisfaction and lowest cost, something that varies across each projects’ budget and time constraints.

Cost & Operational Impact

All design considerations must find the balance between cost and effectiveness to determine what’s best for the exact project. Sustainable features such as green roofs and light sensors raise a project’s upfront cost, but reduce energy and maintenance costs long-term, while also increasing patient satisfaction. Evidence shows that green roofs can lower cooling loads and stormwater fees. ²

On the other hand, design considerations like private rooms make immediate human impact by supporting privacy, reducing the spread of infection, and creating a calmer experience. However great the benefits of private rooms are, the designer must consider the immediate increase in budget and square footage necessary to accommodate such a design.

The goal of healthcare design isn’t to chase the lowest cost or the most features, but to create a space that genuinely works for the staff, patients, and visitors who use it every day while staying within the client’s budget.

Staff Efficiency & Space Planning

Depending on the scope of the project, space planning can vary from designing one department of nurses, to creating a master plan for the entire hospital. Efficient layout plans reduce travel distance, whether that’s distance between departments or distance from the nurse station to a patient room. An efficient floor plan will consider the distance between departments, waiting areas, and support spaces to reduce expended energy, noise reverberation, and errors across spaces.

Acting as the central hub for patient care, the position of nursing stations is arguably the most important factor in staff efficiency and space planning. Research suggests that a centralized nursing station reduces walking distance and staff fatigue, while a decentralized nursing station increases patient bedside time. This study suggests that the best design approach might be a hybrid nursing station. This may be something like one centralized nursing station that fosters a team connection and base for patient support, while also having decentralized smaller stations that nurses can use as personal bases for their work. ³

Other considerations to be made when space planning include patient layout, wayfinding, and environmental quality. Patient satisfaction can be boosted by designing single-occupancy rooms, providing space for visitors, accommodating natural lighting, and decreasing sound bleed across rooms/departments. ⁴

See Patient-Centeredness for more

Patient-Centeredness

Patient-centered design is focused on creating an environment that boosts patient satisfaction and healing during their visit. Many environmental factors such as lighting, sound, privacy, and autonomy affect the way patients heal. The potential benefits of dedicated lighting design are beginning to come to light, with some studies suggesting that natural lighting may reduce a patient’s length of stay. ⁵ There’s also some evidence to show that light complementing the body’s natural circadian rhythm may reduce depression and fall risks. ⁶

To read more about how lighting and sound affect a patient’s healthcare journey, click this link: Light and Sound in the Healing Environment