Insights & Solutions

Wagner, J.A., Greeley, D.G., Gormley, T.C. (2019). Health Environments Research & Design Journal. DOI: 10.1177/1937586719854218

As part of the infection control toolbox, in this issue brief you will learn about, high-touch and soft surfaces and their effect on antimicrobial behavior, different cleaning mechanisms and their impact on surfaces, and an approach for structuring infection prevention teams during the design process. 

By combining observation, interviews, simulation, and rapid prototyping, this team developed design solutions that help healthcare workers stay safe while engaged in challenging tasks. This webinar brings the experience of the healthcare practitioners who cared for Ebola patients during the 2014 outbreak and introduces a human-centered discovery approach developed by design researchers at SimTigrate Design Lab to define the design requirements of spaces where the risk of self- and cross-contamination is the highest.

This webinar will focus on a case study on the efficient design of one of the largest treatment centers for infectious diseases in the U.S. The University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston’s new six-bed bio-containment critical care unit will serve as a multifunctional patient care space that is equipped to treat patients with the most highly contagious diseases. 

Learn about: how innovative design can be achieved at the same or similar cost, how design can result in a well-regarded community landmark, and how community-based care improves patient use and compliance with regimens.

Aging often involves a multitude of changing needs and priorities. However, there are human needs and desires that remain constant throughout the life course. Design strategies for aging must not only address basic physiological and safety needs, but attend to higher-level human needs as well. The universal design approach is being adopted by many forward-thinking designers who aim to support equitable, flexible, and accessible environments for all users.  

The goal for this project was to create a patient-centered healthcare facility, using EBD, objectives include: wayfinding integrated into the architecture, zoned circulation - separation of on-stage and off-stage flow, and clear access to patient care areas with minimal travel distances. 

The goal for this project was to create a world-class facility using evidence-based design (EBD), LEED, and patient- and family–centered strategies. The re-design of the Ft. Bliss Army Medical Center not only took into account the Military Health System (MHS) World-Class Checklist, but also information gathered from 14 EBD working groups to further influence the design. 

This presentation provides information on the current incidence of healthcare-associated infections in U.S. hospitals and design & construction considerations that can help prevent these outcomes. Examples of published outbreaks related to design and construction activity are provided. In addition, specific examples of design options and construction risk mitigation measures will be reviewed. 

Developed through extensive review of research, surveys, site tests, and review and validation by expert advisory council members, this standard set of evidence-based design checklists and post-occupancy evaluation (POE) tools can be used by interior designers to apply research to healthcare design projects and to conduct post-occupancy evaluations of three types of hospital patient rooms: adult medical-surgical, adult intensive care, and maternity care.