Insights & Solutions

The goal for this project was to establish four guiding principles: Design for adaptability to enable flexibility of use over time; Incorporate safety initiatives identified in available research; Create standardization of processes, supplies and design to develop a safer environment and increase the value of the facility; Develop archetypes or prototypes for all components including design elements, patient rooms and overall units.

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. 

HCAHPS scores related to noise in the hospital environment are typically among the lowest. Acoustic intervention packages implemented by healthcare organizations are often a combination of built environment and operational measures.  

The following are compiled from research literature, case studies, interviews, and other materials to provide an overview on the topic of noise.  

Learn about: how St. Mary's Hospital targeted noise reduction goals for their cardiac care unit, about onsite sound measurements that informed material selection, and about design changes that resulted in reduced noise from the highest sources of sound.

Do you involve your physicians and nurses in your design and renovation efforts? If not, you could be missing out on a valuable resource to help you better meet the provisions of healthcare reform, which require high quality and efficient care. Better yet, your staff is already on your payroll—and they know your operations better than anyone else!

Life in most healthcare organizations passes at a rapid pace. Sounds familiar, right? And in the frenzy of the moment, you probably find that opportunities for your staff to communicate with one another are often overlooked. Yet such internal communication is essential for efficiency, safety, and consistency in patient care. So how do you find that balance without tipping the scale?

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.