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Knowledge Repository

A complete, user-friendly database of healthcare design research references MoreLess about the Knowledge Repository

The Knowledge Repository is a complete, user-friendly database of healthcare design research references that continues to grow with the latest peer-reviewed publications. Start with our Knowledge Repository for all of your searches for articles and research citations on healthcare design topics. Access full texts through the source link, read key point summaries, or watch slidecasts. Expand your search and find project briefs, interviews, and other relevant resources by visiting our Insights & Solutions page.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 25

The influence of hospital ward design on resilience to heat waves: An exploration using distributed lag models

Author(s): Iddon, C. R., Mills, T. C., Giridharan, R., Lomas, K. J.
Prolonged periods of uncharacteristically high outdoor temperatures (often referred to as “heat waves”) are correlated with increases in localized mortality rates. Hospitals have a responsibility to protect patient populations from harmful weather conditions, especially chronically ill patients that are vulnerable during prolonged exposure to high temperatures.
Key Point Summary
Added June 2017

Different Types of Door-Opening Motions as Contributing Factors to Containment Failures in Hospital Isolation Rooms

Author(s): Tang, J. W., Nicolle, A., Pantelic, J., Klettner, C. A., Su, R., Kalliomaki, P., Saarinen, P., Koskela, H., Reijula, K., Mustakallio, P., Cheong, D. K. W., Sekhar, C., Tham, K. W., Costa, C.
When under negative pressure, hospital isolation rooms are essential for both the containment of patients emitting airborne infectious agents as well as the protection of other patients from these agents. A plethora of different doors are used in the construction of these rooms, but relatively few studies have analyzed how certain door-opening motions and the passage of healthcare workers through these doors can affect the overall performance of isolation rooms.
Key Point Summary
Added December 2016

Airflow patterns through single hinged and sliding doors in hospital isolation rooms – Effect of ventilation, flow differential and passage

Author(s): Kalliomäki, p., Saarinen, P., Tang, J. W., Koskela, h.
Patients with highly contagious diseases are often housed in negative pressure isolation rooms. These rooms attempt to reduce cross-infections within the hospital. However, airflows produced by healthcare worker movements and door opening motions pose the risk of spreading pathogen-laden air from negative pressure isolation rooms into other spaces. A significant number of previous studies have examined the impact of single-hinged door-generated airflows, but few have compared hinged doors with sliding doors.
Key Point Summary
Added December 2016

Secondary exposure risks to patients in an airborne isolation room: Implications for anteroom design

Author(s): Mousavi, E. S., Grosskopf, K. R.
Previous research has shown that negatively pressurized Airborne Infectious Isolation Rooms (AIIRs) can protect hospitals from fatal airborne pathogens such as tuberculosis. But this use of negative pressurization can simultaneously increase the chances of isolated patients contracting secondary infections, or healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs), caused by air blowing in from adjacent spaces. Research is needed to better assess the actual likelihood of secondary infections occurring in these scenarios so that steps can be taken to mitigate these risks.
Key Point Summary
Added December 2016

Understanding Green Building Design and Healthcare Outcomes: Evidence-Based Design Analysis of an Oncology Unit

Author(s): Campion, N., Thiel, C. L., Focareta, J., Bilec, M. M.
The United States healthcare industry is a major part of the economy as well as a significant contributor to carbon dioxide emissions and other environmental issues. Green building design (GBD) attempts to offset environmental impacts of buildings, and recently designers have been combining GBD with evidence-based design (EBD) in order to create facilities that positively impact both the external and internal environment.
Key Point Summary
Added June 2016

Impact of the Physical Environment of Residential Health, Care, and Support Facilities (RHCSF) on Staff and Residents A Systematic Review of the Literature

Author(s): Joseph, A., Choi, Y.-S., Quan, X.
Strategies related to the design of the built environment should be considered within the context of the culture of the organization and the resident population. This study of the physical environment of residential health, care, and support facilities addresses the range of settings and population, where other studies have been lacking. The literature review strongly suggests that the built environment is an important component of care provided in residential care settings.
Key Point Summary
Added May 2016

The Creation of a Biocontainment Unit at a Tertiary Care Hospital: The Johns Hopkins Medicine Experience

Author(s): Garibaldi, B. T., Kelen, G. D., Brower, R. G., Bova, G., Ernst, N., Reimers, M., Langlotz, R., Gimburg, A., Iati, M., Smith, C., MacConnell, S., James, H., Lewin, J. J., Trexler, P., Black, M. A., Lynch, C., Clarke, W., Marzinke, M. A., Sokoll, L. J., Carroll, K. C., Parish, N. M., Dionne, K., Biddison, E. L. D., Gwon, H. S., Sauer, L., Hill, P., Newton, S. M., Garrett, M. R., Miller, R. G., Perl, T. M., Maragakis, L. L.
Prior to the 2014 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa, the United States had only one to three specialized biocontainment units. Once the EVD crisis began, a group of reputable American healthcare institutions worked together to renovate a deactivated clinical space into a functioning biocontainment unit (BCU).
Key Point Summary
Added April 2016

Developing the Birth Unit Design Spatial Evaluation Tool (BUDSET) in Australia: A Qualitative Study

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.”
Key Point Summary
Added January 2016

Non-Pharmacological Interventions in Long-term Care: Feasibility and Recent Trends

Author(s): Fitzsimmons, S., Barba, B., Stump, M. & Bonner, E.
This article discusses the use of non-pharmacological interventions as part of an effort to minimize the negative effects of antipsychotic drug use on patients with cognitive impairment or perceived behavioral issues. Aspects of the built environment were included.
Key Point Summary
Added January 2016

Impact of healthcare design on patients’ perception of a rheumatology outpatient infusion room: an interventional pilot study

Author(s): Bukh, G., Tommerup, A. M. M., Madsen, O. R.
Evidence-based healthcare design is a concept aimed at reducing stress factors in the physical environment for the benefit of patients and the medical staff. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of room modifications on patients’ perception of an outpatient infusion room used for treating rheumatologic diseases. Patient and nurse interviews, a staff workshop and field...
Key Point Summary
Added December 2015

From “Baby Barn” to the “Single Family Room Designed NICU”: A Report of Staff Perceptions One Year Post Occupancy

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.
Key Point Summary
Added July 2015

Part 1: Evidence-Based Facility Design Using Transforming Care at the Bedside Principles

Author(s): Devine, D. A., Wenger, B., Krugman, M., Zwink, J. E., Shiskowsky, K., Hagman, J., Limon, S., Sanders, C., Reeves, C.
A western academic hospital reexamined its design strategy when after three years of building a new facility they had to plan for a new facility to meet their patient capacity. Using a combination of the principles of Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB) and Evidence-Based Design (EBD), an interdisciplinary team presented design recommendations.
Key Point Summary
Added April 2015

Measurement of ventilation and airborne infection risk in large naturally ventilated hospital wards

Author(s): Gilkeson, C. A., Camargo-Valero, M. A., Pickin, L. E., Noakes, C. J.
In healthcare environments, the transmission of airborne pathogens is a matter of concern. Ventilation has been identified as one of the key factors in the risk of infection. The authors indicate that most of the evidence on ventilation and infection risk has been in controlled spaces like operating rooms and isolation rooms, and that naturally ventilated spaces like wards have not been studied. They conducted a series of experiments in an unused ward to measure the transmission of pathogens in conditions of natural ventilation, mechanical ventilation, and no ventilation.
Key Point Summary
Added March 2015

Factors influencing evaluation of patient areas, work spaces, and staff areas by healthcare professionals

Author(s): Sadatsafavi, H., Walewski, J., Shepley, M. M.
One important element of high-quality healthcare delivery is a motivated and satisfied staff. Healthcare executives should regularly examine the factors that influence clinicians’ perceptions of satisfaction and quality so that necessary changes can be addressed.
Key Point Summary
Added November 2014

Post-Occupancy Evaluation of a Transformed Nursing Home: The First Four Green House Settings

Author(s): Cutler, L. J., Kane, R. A.
To study how well the physical environments of four Green Houses® served the residents, staff, and visitors and to develop recommendations for similar small-house nursing home projects. Longitudinal post-occupancy evaluation of four houses using mixed-methods, including behavioral mapping, checklist ratings of individual bedrooms and bathrooms, place-centered time scans, environmental tracers,...
Key Point Summary
Added September 2014

A decade of adult intensive care unit design: a study of the physical design features of the best-practice examples

Author(s): Rashid, M., Abushousheh, A.
This article reports a study of the physical design characteristics of a set of adult intensive care units (ICUs), built between 1993 and 2003. These ICUs were recognized as the best-practice examples by the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, and the American Institute of Architects.
Key Point Summary
Added July 2014

Perceived hospital environment quality indicators: A study of orthopaedic units

Author(s): Fornara, F., Bonaiuto, M., Bonnes, M.
The field of healthcare design has increasingly recognized the need for building environments that are more ‘‘user-centered,’’ but spatial–physical features have not typically been included in assessment surveys on patient satisfaction.
Key Point Summary
Added July 2014

Physical Environment: The Major Determinant Towards the Creation of a Healing Environment?

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.
Key Point Summary
Added April 2014

Quality Physical Environment in Paediatric Wards: Designer’s Creation Versus Users’ Satisfaction

Author(s): Ghazali, R., Abbas, M. Y.
Prior research has revealed that an optimal healing environment can enhance a child’s quality of life by supporting the healing process. However, little has been done to identify specific design features within an optimal healing environment that either impede or aid the healing process.
Key Point Summary
Added April 2014

Nurses’ Perception of Single-Occupancy Versus Multioccupancy Rooms in Acute Care Environments: An Exploratory Comparative Assessment

Author(s): Chaudhury, H., Mahmood, A., Valente, M.
As people are living longer and the baby boomers age, the demand for hospital beds will increase. As new facilities are built to handle this influx of patients, the challenge for hospital designers and administrators is to design patient rooms that promote therapeutic goals, foster positive patient outcomes, and function as intensive care rooms. Recent research suggests that single-occupancy rooms are more suitable for infection control and patient care than multioccupancy rooms. However, no research has been done about nursing staff members’ perception of single-occupancy and multioccupancy patient rooms in acute care settings as it relates to patient care.
Key Point Summary
Added April 2014