Insights & Solutions

This webinar will trace the history of universal design, from its beginnings as a utopian concept in the world of physical objects and spaces, to the struggle for attainment through the often times contradictory Principles, to a practical reconceptualization in the world of emerging and evolving digital technologies. 

This webinar explores how the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia pursued a vision to develop a new pediatric patient care unit: one that would meet the requirements and licensure of an acute care unit, but would provide a safe and supportive environment for patients with a comorbid developmental, behavioral, or psychiatric diagnosis. 

In this webinar learn how a design team utilized research, Lean processes, and innovation to solve the challenges of this unique patient population for the 27-bed Adolescent Behavioral Health Unit in Tacoma, Wash. Find out how design can support a seclusion- and restraint-free care model and how pushing beyond the conventions of behavioral healthcare design was achieved.

This webinar introduces the new, easier to use, online interface for The Center’s Safety Risk Assessment (SRA) toolkit, a proactive and systematic approach to designing and renovating healthcare facilities for safety. Originally developed through research and consensus to support the requirements of the FGI Guidelines, The Center's research team will walk you through the why, what, and how of each part of the online SRA toolkit illustrating features with vignettes gathered from the testing process.  

This webinar explores how a vast majority of the design community embraces Universal Design as a concept – especially those in health and wellness industries – but true universal design implementation is challenging. In this presentation, two key thought leaders in the universal design arena share expertise and insight around true and tangible universal design: what it means, what it looks like, and how to achieve it. This webinar is the second presentation in a three-part series on universal design. Part 1: “To Age is Human: Universal Design Research and Trends” and is available On Demand. Part 3 will be presented in late 2017/early 2018 and will be presented by a panel of Universal Design futurists.

This webinar covers pioneering models for healthy living and healthcare, including examples from the village movement, healthcare at home, and multigenerational day care. As people live longer, managing the needs of the aging population is more important than ever. But the needs of the aging population – love, safety, health and wellness, the pursuit of happiness – are the same for any person at any age. 

This webinar provides a glimpse into how innovative providers can change that paradigm by integrating new models and technology into their memory caregiving, activities, and building design. Learn from experts in architecture and technology, and walk away with a blueprint of how to make technology come alive in your community.

For many years, legal precedents have spoken to the need for quality environments for behavioral health patients. Behavioral health facilities span a wide range of care environments including psychiatric hospitals, psychiatric neuropsychiatric nursing units of general hospitals, facilities for the psychiatric medically infirm, neuropsychiatric units, alcohol and drug addiction retreatment facilities, mental health clinics, day hospitals, and day treatment centers. The wide variety of setting and diagnosis is one of the major impediments to creating evidence based design guidelines for behavioral health facilities.

Behavioral health settings guided by strict safety design measures often result in spaces that are stark, plain, and isolated - potentially exacerbating environmental stressors and escalating already difficult patient situations. Acute care emergency settings have a particular set of challenges as EDs are predicting increased visits from behavioral health patients. Faced with the challenge of designing a behavioral health care setting in the Emergency Department at UnityPoint Health in Rock Island, IL, the project team hypothesized that the creation of a Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU) with a “Living Room Concept” would provide a higher quality of care to patients while assisting in the staff’s ability to quickly consult and treat a diverse set of patients entering the ED. 

For the 2014 cycle of the Facility Guidelines Institute's health care design guidelines, a brand new volume is being developed for residential and senior living facilities; entitled the Guidelines for Residential Care Facilities: Design & Construction of Health, Care, and Support Facilities. This guideline includes nursing homes, hospice, assisted living, independent living, adult day care, and wellness/diagnostic facilities. The vetted approach to the guidelines is to provide design information, as well as parameters for Authorities Having Jurisdiction to evaluate and incorporate culture change and resident-centered approaches to the residential-based care.