Research in Progress

Patient falls are the most common adverse event reported in acute-care settings, affecting 2% to 10% of annual hospital admissions (Hendrich, Nyhuis, Kippenbrock, & Soja, 1995). Patient falls in healthcare settings cause increased morbidity and mortality, longer stays and have significant cost impacts. CHD's Research Coalition awarded funds to Margaret Calkins, Ph.D. of Ideas Institute, to study the differential role that hospital environments play in patient falls. This project will generate practical information about building design and materials that impact falls and injuries from falls that occur in healthcare settings. Read the full published report here.

The Center for Health Design (CHD) in conjunction with the Facilities Guidelines Institute (FGI) and Virtua Health, was recently awarded funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to address the significant need for patient safety to be integrated into healthcare facility design standards. CHD and FGI will use the grant funds from AHRQ to create safer healthcare environments by developing methods to enable careful consideration of built environment factors during the design and construction of healthcare facilities.

The project begins with the research – by completing a literature review on existing tools and approaches for incorporating patient safety in the design process. The materials developed as a result of the literature review then informs the work for the following seminar portion of this project. An invitation-only seminar titled, “Designing for Patient Safety,” on October 11 and 12, 2011 at Virtua Health in New Jersey. Finally, the patient safety risk assessment tool developed by the workgroup is intended for inclusion in the 2014 FGI Guidelines for Design and Construction of Healthcare Facilities. Learn more about the event >

In collaboration with Philips Design on a series of research projects, CHD is examining the impact of the Philips Ambient Experience program on patient, staff and financial outcomes. This interactive technology allows users of healthcare settings, such as MR examination rooms to interact creatively with the visual and auditory environment they are in. They are able to choose images and sounds that can surround them during their examination. Findings from this work will be published in 2011.

With Research Partner, Herman Miller Healthcare, CHD is conducting its third annual survey to measure the extent to which research about healthcare design is being translated into the design of new facilities. The final report is available for free each year on The Center for Health Design’s web site. Read the 2010 report. Additionally, it is published in industry magazines and results are presented at healthcare design conferences. The 2011 survey is closed; evaluation of results is currently underway.