Influence of Positive Distractions on Children in Two Clinic Waiting Areas
2011
HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 4
Pages 124-40
Author(s): Pati, D., Nanda, U.
Studies show that the quality of waiting environments influences the perception of quality of care and caregivers, that perception of waiting time is a better indicator of patient satisfaction than actual waiting time, and that the waiting environment contributes to the perception of wait time.
Added September 2014
Research Methods for Design Practitioners To Evaluate Facilities
2011
HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 4
Pages 7-13
Author(s): Shepley, M. M.
Added September 2014
Lactation Space Design: Supporting Evidence-Based Practice and the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative
2011
HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 4
Pages 101-109
Author(s): Thompson, T. S., Heflin, L.
Many studies support the philosophy that breast-feeding is the best nutritional option for babies. There is a strong movement to go back to breast-feeding newborn children for their first six months of life because it has been shown that breast-feeding helps reduce the rate of illness for both mother and child. One study done by Simkin showed that infants fed breast milk exclusively for their first three months of life were nine times less likely to be hospitalized for infection.
Added September 2014
Evaluating the use of a targeted multiple intervention strategy in reducing patient falls in an acute care hospital: a randomized controlled trial
2011
Journal of Advanced Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 9
Volume 67
Pages 1984-1992
Author(s): Ang, E., Mordiffi, S. Z., Wong, H. B.
Prevention of patient falls remains a challenge that has eluded healthcare institutions. The effectiveness of targeted multiple fall prevention interventions in reducing the incidences of falling has not been established.
Added August 2014
Lean Thinking in Emergency Departments: A Critical Review
2011
Annals of Emergency Medicine
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 57
Pages 265-278
Author(s): Holden, R. J.
Added May 2014
Living Environment and Mobility of Older Adults
2011
Gerontologist
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 57
Pages 698–703
Author(s): Cress, M. E., Orini, S., Kinsler, L.
Older adults often decide to live in smaller environments. Smaller living space and the addition of services provided by a retirement community (RC) may make living easier for the individual, but it may also reduce the amount of daily physical activity and ultimately reduce functional ability.
Added May 2014
Physical Environment: The Major Determinant Towards the Creation of a Healing Environment?
2011
Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences
Journal Article
Volume 30
Pages 1951-1958
Author(s): Abbas, M. Y., Ghazali, R.,
Prior research suggests that the pediatric population’s heightened perception of the quality of the physical environment can have an impact on the creation of a healing environment.
Added April 2014
How private is your consultation? Acoustic and audiological measures of speech privacy in the otolaryngology clinic
Issue 1
Volume 268
Pages 143-146
Author(s): Clamp, P. S., Grant, D. G., Zapala, D. A., Hawkins, D. B.
Although acoustic privacy is desirable during healthcare-related conversations, the authors show that patient-doctor conversations in clinic consultation rooms may not be acoustically private.
Added March 2014
Operating Room HVAC Setback Strategies
2011
American Society for Healthcare Engineering
Monograph
Author(s): Love, C.
Operating rooms (ORs) have significant HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) standards and requirements, yet the rooms tend not to be in use upwards of 40% of the time. As a result, an excessive amount of energy is wasted to maintain air standards for no reason during that period of time. Hospitals have an opportunity to save a significant amount of energy by employing HVAC setback strategies, which minimize the amount of air supplied to the rooms when they are unoccupied. The decision of whether or not to employ a setback strategy for a hospital’s ORs requires an assessment of staff usage, existing conditions, and associated costs.
Added March 2014
Converting Medical/Surgical Units for Safe Use by Psychiatric Patients: The Physical and Fiscal Risks
2011
American Society for Healthcare Engineering
Monograph
Author(s): Hunt, J. M., Sine, D. M.
When repurposing medical/surgical units as behavioral health units, there are a significant number of elements within the physical environment that must be modified to support the specialized needs of the patients and reduce the risk of self-harm and harm to others. While intention for self-harm cannot be reliably assessed, suicide is a major concern on psychiatric units, and therefore there is a need to design the unit as if all patients may be at risk for self-harm.
Added March 2014
Nurses’ Perceptions of How physical Environment Affects Medication Errors in Acute Care Settings
2011
Applied Nursing Research
Journal Article
Issue 4
Volume 24
Pages 229–237
Author(s): Mahmood, A., Chaudhury, H., Valente, M.
Medication errors in hospitals occur for a number of reasons, stemming from staff and organizational issues to aspects of the physical environment. Errors include omissions, giving the wrong type or amount of medication, and giving the wrong patient unneeded medication. Research has indicated that a significant amount of these errors are avoidable.
Added February 2014
Same-Handed and Mirrored Unit Configurations: Is There a Difference in Patient and Nurse Outcomes?
2011
Journal of Nursing Administration
Journal Article
Issue 6
Volume 41
Pages 273-279
Author(s): Watkins, N., Kennedy, M., Ducharme, M., Padula, C.
Awareness of the impact of healthcare facility design on a number of diverse patient and staff outcomes is growing. From patient recovery time, satisfaction, and comfort to nursing staff efficiency, error rates, and distraction, varied outcomes are being linked to environmental conditions and design attributes in hospital settings. Inpatient unit configurations, specifically same-handed configurations vs. mirrored units, are a particular area of interest for researchers, with implications for practitioners and patient care. Same-handed configurations, which standardize all rooms within a unit such that they are all identical, may allow for reduced noise as headwalls are no longer shared.
Added February 2014
Non-Direct Patient Care Factors Influencing Nursing Workload: A Review of the Literature
2011
Journal of Advanced Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 10
Volume 67
Pages 2109–2129
Author(s): Myny, D., Van Goubergen, D., Gobert, M., Vanderweek, K., Van Hecke, A.
For decades, researchers have been studying nursing workloads, yet amount of complaints about the high workload keep climbing. Because workload contributes to nurses’ job satisfaction, burnout, and stress, it is important to get a better idea of how nondirect patient care elements impact nurses.
Added February 2014
Efficacy of controlling night-time noise and activities to improve patients’ sleep quality in a surgical intensive care unit
2011
Journal of Clinical Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 3-4
Volume 20
Pages 396–407
Author(s): Li, S., Wang, T., Wu, S. F. V., Liang, S., Tung, H.
In the intensive care unit (ICU), noises, continuous lighting, and constant care-related activities disrupt patients’ sleep. Patients also may struggle to sleep because they are in an unfamiliar environment, feel isolated, are in pain, have various tubes or other equipment to deal with, as well as just general treatment activities.
Added January 2014
Characteristics of the Nighttime Hospital Bedside Care Environment (Sound, Light, and Temperature) for Children With Cancer
2011
Cancer Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 34
Pages 176-185
Author(s): Linder, L. A., Christian, B. J.
Children with cancer have a lot to cope with aside from their disease and its treatment. Often, they are in unfamiliar healthcare environments that may be too noisy or bright to facilitate uninterrupted sleep. However, not much is known about the sound and light levels in either pediatric or adult inpatient oncology units.
Added January 2014
Comparison of space allocation in recently completed critical care units
2011
Critical Care Nursing Quarterly
Journal Article
Issue 4
Volume 34
Pages 282-289
Author(s): Durham, J. H.
Critical care design has evolved from a series of curtained cubicles in a large open room to private rooms that occupy significantly more space. Nowhere is this move to larger spaces more apparent than when reviewing the adult critical care unit award winners of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, American Association of Critical Care Nurses, and American Institute of Architects/Academy of Architecture for Health annual design competition over the last 2 decades.
Added January 2014
Unpleasant and pleasant memories of intensive care in adult mechanically ventilated patients—Findings from 250 interviews
2011
Intensive and Critical Care Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 2
Volume 27
Pages 76-84
Author(s): Samuelson, K. A. M.
Patients’ perspectives on the intensive care experience are essential to improve patients’ comfort and well-being during and after a stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). This research approach was unique as the author used data from a large number of patient interviews (n = 250) and a validated qualitative content analysis technique to create themes from the data. One of the themes included—environmental distress—described aspects of the physical environment that patients remembered as causing distress.
Added January 2014
Nighttime Noise Issues That Interrupt Sleep After Cardiac Surgery
2011
Journal of Nursing Care Quality
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 26
Pages 88–95
Author(s): Spence, J., Murray, T., Tang, A. S., Butler, R. S., Albert, N. M.
Hospital unit environments have excessive environmental ambient sound levels. In cardiac-surgical, general, and neonatal intensive care units, sound levels were commonly more than 50 dBand spiked to 80 dB and 100.9 dB. Common sounds associated with routine care in a postsurgical intermediate care unit have a decibel level in the range of heavy truck traffic (about 80 dB). Noise influences the physiological state of sleep. It is important to reduce nurse-generated and environmental noise when patients are trying to sleep.
Added January 2014
Qualitative Analysis of Therapeutic Light Effects on Global Function in Alzheimer’s Disease
2011
Western Journal of Nursing Research
Journal Article
Issue 9
Volume 33
Pages 933-952
Author(s): Nowak, L., Davis, J.
The occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is growing, with 68% of cases occurring in women. In addition to declines in global function, patients with AD experience reversal of day–night patterns, disturbed sleep–wake rhythms, and excessive daytime sleepiness, making managing AD difficult. Symptom management includes pharmacologic measures, environmental or milieu management, and behavioral interventions.
Added January 2014
Can modifications to the bedroom environment improve the sleep of new parents? Two randomized controlled trials
2011
Research in Nursing & Health
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 34
Pages 7-19
Author(s): Lee, K. A., Gay, C. L.
One of the major challenges of new parenthood is adjusting to the sleep disruption that comes with caring for a newborn. Parents-to-be know that caring for an infant with random sleep and feeding patterns will mean sleep deprivation and fatigue, but few are prepared for the actual physical and emotional demands.
Added January 2014