Insights & Solutions

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. 

This webinar explores how to: evaluating the “why” and the “who” related to positive outcomes in senior living, provide an understanding of sustainability within senior living, including resources, provide an understanding of resident-centered care development in China, and provide information on new senior living guidelines. 

The value of taking a patient-centered approach to providing healthcare seems obvious. After all, the patient is the one who ultimately reaps the benefits of good health, so shouldn’t he or she also have the chance to take an active role in his treatment process, guiding his own outcomes? That’s the premise of a Patient-Centered Medical Home. Yet for healthcare organizations that provide a safety need for low-income and high risk populations, getting some of the poorest and sickest patients involved in their own care can be quite challenging.

When you think of your organization’s setting, you probably focus on its visual and functional aesthetics. But do you also connect the design approach to the logistics of the communication that occurs in the space? If not, you could be missing some very real opportunities for improvement, since research reveals that the two can be closely linked.

As the focus in healthcare hones in more and more on that all-essential interaction between physicians and patients, you’ll want to be more aware of how your design choices facilitate such meaningful communication.