Relationship Between ICU Design and Mortality
2010
Chest
Journal Article
Issue 5
Volume 137
Pages 1022-1027
Author(s): Leaf, D. E., Homel, P., Factor, P. H.
While it is widely accepted that the architectural design of healthcare facilities can influence patient health outcomes, there is a lack of research exploring whether patients receiving treatment in intensive care unit (ICU) beds with poor visibility from a central nursing station have different health outcomes compared to patients with greater visibility to healthcare staff.
Added September 2018
The Research-Design Interaction: Lessons Learned From an Evidence-Based Design Studio
2010
HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 4
Volume 3
Pages 75–92
Author(s): Haq, S., Pati, D.
With the emergence of the Evidence-Based Design (EBD) approach being integrated into design practice models throughout design firms, much attention has been given to the research portion of the process. However, little is understood about the interaction between the designer, the primary change agent, and the evidence they are using to bring about the change.
Added December 2016
The Efficacy of Visual Cues to Improve Hand Hygiene Compliance
2010
Simulation in Healthcare
Journal Article
Issue 6
Volume 5
Pages 325-331
Author(s): Nevo, Igal, Fitzpatrick, Maureen, Thomas, Ruth-Everett, Gluck, Paul A., Lenchus, Joshua D., Arheart, Kristopher L., Birnbach, David J.
Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) affect patients at hospitals and other facilities. Hand hygiene compliance (HHC) among healthcare workers is important and was called upon by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2009 for improvement and sustainability.
Added June 2016
Measuring the Structure of Visual Fields in Nursing Units
2010
Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 2
Volume 3
Pages 48-59
Author(s): Lu, Y.
A nurses’ central role is to treat and attend to patients’ needs in a timely manner. This becomes complicated when managing several patients simultaneously, especially those in critical care. Therefore, developing an efficient system that helps nurses manage patient care and reduces nurse burnout rates is critical.
Added January 2016
Making the Case for Evidence-Based Design in Healthcare: A Descriptive Case Study of Organizational Decision Making
2010
Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 4
Pages 56-88
Author(s): Shoemaker, L.K., Kazley, A.S., White, A.
It is reported that an approximately 98,000 people die each year in the United States as a result of medical errors (IOM, 1999). This is unacceptable in a country that prides itself on the best medical institutions and access to the highest-end technology. It is believed that the need to renew currently standing hospitals is due to a combination of aging buildings, aging populations, and introduction of new technologies (Ulrich, 2004). This has led to a large patient safety movement and the largest hospital construction boom in U.S. history (Jones, 2004).
Added January 2016
Developing the Birth Unit Design Spatial Evaluation Tool (BUDSET) in Australia: A Qualitative Study
2010
Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 4
Volume 3
Pages 43-57
Author(s): Foureur, M., Leap, N., Davis, D., Forbes, I., & Homer, C.
To develop a tool to assess the “optimality” of birth unit design. This is important because “Optimal birth spaces are likely to enable women to have physiologically normal labor and birth.”
Added January 2016
An Empirical Examination of Patient Room Handedness in Acute Medical-Surgical Settings
2010
Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 4
Pages 11-33
Author(s): Pati, D., Cason, C., Harvey Jr., T.E., Evans, J.
The initial cost of designing hospitals with standardized same-handed patient rooms is typically much higher than the cost of hospitals designed with mirror-image configurations. This is because same-handed units require separate utility lines for each patient room rather than shared medical gas lines and bathroom plumbing lines between every two rooms.
Added January 2016
From “Baby Barn” to the “Single Family Room Designed NICU”: A Report of Staff Perceptions One Year Post Occupancy
2010
Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews
Journal Article
Issue 2
Volume 10
Pages 97-103
Author(s): Cone, S. K., Short, S., Gutcher, G.
Single Family Rooms (SFRs) are becoming an increasingly popular design model in the care of critically ill preterm infants. The advantages of this physical environment to the infant, family and care providers is well documented.
Added July 2015
Lighting for Today's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
2010
Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews
Journal Article
Issue 2
Volume 10
Pages 107-113
Author(s): Rizzo, P., Rea, M., White, R.
Lighting is a design feature in NICUs that needs to cater to and support all users of the NICU – the infant, the staff, and the family. The authors surmise that lighting should be quiet, reliable, efficient, maintenance- free, and flexible in accordance with the diverse and changing requirements of the NICU users.
Added July 2015
Pre-versus post-occupancy evaluation of daylight quality in hospitals
2010
Building and Environment
Journal Article
Issue 12
Volume 45
Pages 2652-2665
Author(s): Alzoubi, H., Al-Rqaibat, S., Bataineh, R. F.
Studies show that most hospital occupants prefer natural daylight to electrical light. Daylight can be used to optimize patient comfort by creating a more attractive indoor setting. Daylight has been linked to higher levels of staff performance and productivity along with reduced energy use and hospital emissions. Comparisons of pre- and post-occupancy lighting levels evaluate how well a space being put to use matches the predicted situation.
Added March 2015
Using Music to Reduce Noise Stress for Patients in the Emergency Department A Pilot Study
2010
Music and Medicine
Journal Article
Issue 4
Volume 2
Pages 201-207
Author(s): Short, A. E., Ahern, N., Holdgate, A., Morris, J., Sidhu, B.
High levels of noise within emergency departments (EDs) have been associated with higher levels of patient stress. Noise and the stress it causes have been observed as a contributing factor to slower recovery rates and overall lower rates of satisfaction among patients.
Added March 2015
Space to care and treat safely in acute hospitals: Recommendations from 1866 to 2008
2010
Applied Ergonomics
Journal Article
Issue 5
Volume 41
Pages 666-673
Author(s): Hignett, S., Lu, J.
Bed space, defined in this study as the area around an individual bed offering privacy either as a curtained or screened cubicle or a single room in a ward holding multiple occupants, is the most frequently repeated design envelope in an acute care hospital. Since patients, staff, visitors, and other people will occupy this space at one point or another for a variety of different purposes, a complex design challenge exists. In 1893, Florence Nightingale successfully argued for less cramped bedrooms and overall improvements in hospital designs.
Added December 2014
The relationship between birth unit design and safe, satisfying birth: Developing a hypothetical model
2010
Midwifery
Journal Article
Issue 5
Volume 26
Pages 520-525
Author(s): Foureur, M., Davis, D., Fenwick, J., Leap, N., Iedema, R., Forbes, I., Homer, C. S. E.
The authors assert that just as the designed environment can impact health outcomes by disrupting effective communication and increasing patient and staff stress, it can also impact the experiences and outcomes for birthing women.
Added December 2014
A neural wayfinding mechanism adjusts for ambiguous landmark information
2010
NeuroImage
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 52
Pages 364-370
Author(s): Janzen, G., Jansen, C.
In order to find their way through their surroundings, people need to adapt to different and changing environments. Objects placed in strategic locations can serve as helpful navigational cues. Using functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI) to monitor brain activity, this study investigates how the brain is able to distinguish and process helpful information from the environment for navigational purposes.
Added November 2014
Targeting environmental factors to reduce elderly in-patient falls.
2010
Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare/ 3rd International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics [AHFE], 17-20 July 2010, Miami, USA.
Journal Article
Author(s): Hignett, S., Sands, G., Youde, J., Griffiths, P.
Inpatient falls have consistently been the biggest single category of reported incidents since the 1940s; they are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality and have a high prevalence after admission to hospital. The incident rate for falls is approximately three times higher in hospitals and nursing homes than in community-dwelling older people. It has been suggested that this may be due to a combination of extrinsic risk factors (relating to the environment), for example, unfamiliar environment and wheeled furniture, combined with intrinsic risk factors (relating to the patient) such as confusion, acute illness, and balance-affecting medication.
Added November 2014
Pragmatic, Cluster Randomized Trial of a Policy to Introduce Low-Low Beds to Hospital Wards for the Prevention of Falls and Fall Injuries
2010
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 58
Pages 435-441
Author(s): Haines, T. P., Bell, R. A. R., Varghese, P. N.
Falls by hospitalized older adults are a common and potentially debilitating adverse event. In the United States, Medicare no longer confers incremental payments to hospitals for eight secondary conditions that it perceives as preventable complications of medical care, with falls from bed being one of these. Development of a policy to introduce low-low beds, which reduce the potential for injury if patients fall from the bed, on hospital wards is attractive, given the hypothesized benefits.
Added November 2014
Applying root cause analysis to improve patient safety: decreasing falls in postpartum women.
2010
Quality & Safety in Health Care
Journal Article
Issue 2
Volume 19
Pages 138-143
Author(s): Chen, K. H., Chen, L. R., Su, S.
The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of interventions to prevent falls designed through hazard analysis using root cause analysis.
Added November 2014
The Impact of Environmental Factors on Nursing Stress, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Intention
2010
Journal of Nursing Administration
Journal Article
Author(s): Applebaum, Diane, Fowler, Susan, Fiedler, Nancy, Osinubi, Omowunmi, Robson, Mark
Key concepts include the impact of environmental factors on perceived stress levels of staff nurses.
Added October 2014
The Effects of Presence and Influence in Nature Images in a Simulated Hospital Patient Room
2010
HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 3
Pages 56-69
Author(s): Vincent, E., Battisto, D., Grimes, L.
While some research has looked at the impact of variables such as nature murals, nature sounds, nature videos, and nature views on such outcomes as pain intensity and tolerance, pain quality, need for medication, and anxiety, this topic has not been widely studied in the research literature. As hospitals purchase art for display, to create a restorative environment, and encourage wellness, more direction is needed to inform decisions between different types of art and nature images that may or may not truly benefit patients.
Added October 2014
The Effects of Nature Images on Pain in a Simulated Hospital Patient Room
2010
HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 3
Pages 42-55
Author(s): Vincent, E., Battisto, D., Grimes, L., McCubbin, J.
While a number of research studies have found a link between views to nature in healthcare settings and reduction in stress and anxiety, fewer studies have looked at the impact on pain levels of views to nature. While pain and stress are related, there is interest in better defining the relationship between access to nature and pain itself. Additionally, the researchers believe that there is a need to better understand these relationships through the lens of theory, in particular evolutionary theory, which posits that people are predisposed to select and prefer certain types of environments that ensure survival.
Added October 2014
