Does proper design of an intensive care unit affect compliance with isolation practices?
2011
Critical Care Nursing Quarterly
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 34
Pages 36-45
Author(s): Rodriguez, M., Ford, D., Adams, S.
This article tackles these questions, as well as looks at the importance of end-user input to renovation and construction healthcare projects.
Added November 2014
Reducing Falls in a Definitive Observation Unit: An Evidence-Based Practice Institute Consortium Project
2008
Critical Care Nursing Quarterly
Journal Article
Issue 2
Volume 31
Pages 127-139
Author(s): Gutierrez, F., Smith, K.
A Definitive Observation Unit (DOU) in a hospital in California maintains high standards of nursing and follows an evidence-based practice of fall prevention. Yet the facility’s fall rates continue to be higher than the benchmark for similar hospitals.
Added September 2014
The Effect of Hospital Unit Layout on Nurse Walking Behavior
2012
HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 6
Pages 66-82
Author(s): Yi, L., Seo, H.-B.
Over the course of a typical shift, nurses spend a lot of time on their feet, walking back and forth on the unit to take care of patients' needs. The long distances that nurses walk is a topic of concern in the industry. Some believe it may potentially impact the amount of time spent with patients and also because of the physical toll on nurses, day after day. Researchers are attempting to understand whether unit layout and design might be revised to reduce walking distances and create efficiencies that enhance patient care.
Added September 2014
Satisfaction with the emergency department environment decreases with length of stay
2010
Emergency Medicine Journal
Journal Article
Issue 11
Volume 27
Pages 821-8
Author(s): Walsh, M., Knott, J. C.
Added September 2014
Quality of life and building design in residential and nursing homes for older people
2004
Ageing and Society
Journal Article
Issue 6
Volume 24
Pages 941-962
Author(s): Parker, C., Barnes, S., McKee, K., Morgan, K., Torrington, J., Tregenza, P.
Older people living in residential and nursing care homes spend a large proportion of their time within the boundaries of the home, and may depend on the environment to compensate for their physical or cognitive frailties. Regulations and guidelines on the design of care buildings have accumulated over time with little knowledge of their impact on the quality of life of building users. The Design...
Added September 2014
Community-Based Versus Institutional Supportive Housing: Perceived Quality of Care, Quality of Life, Emotional Well-Being, and Social Interaction
2011
Journal of Applied Gerontology
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 30
Pages 275-303
Author(s): Robison, J., Shugrue, N., Reed, I., Thompson, N., Smith, P., Gruman, C.
Numerous options for residential supportive housing are available for people who need long-term care. Some options are categorized as institutional while others are designated community-based; the movement to rebalance the long-term care system emphasizes the latter category. This study examines the experiences of 150 residents of two types of community-based supportive housing-assisted living (...
Added September 2014
An epidemiological study assessing the relative importance of airborne and direct contact transmission of microorganisms in a medical intensive care unit
1990
The Journal of Hospital Infection
Journal Article
Issue 4
Volume 15
Pages 301-9
Author(s): Bauer, T. M., Ofner, E., Just, H. M., Just, H., Daschner, F. D.
Added September 2014
Centralized vs. Decentralized Nursing Stations: Effects on Nurses’ Functional Use of Space and Work Environment
2010
Health Environments Research and Design Journal (HERD)
Journal Article
Issue 4
Volume 3
Pages 19-42
Author(s): Zborowsky, T., Bunker Hellmich, L., Morelli, A., O’Neill, M.
Information technology enables nurses to move away from traditional centralized paper-charting stations to smaller decentralized work stations and charting substations located closer to, or inside of, patient rooms. Understanding the tradeoffs presented by centralized and decentralized nursing station design could provide useful information for future design and the nurse environment "fit."
Added May 2014
Suicide Attempts and Completions in the Emergency Department in Veterans Affairs Hospitals
2012
Emergency Medicine Journal
Journal Article
Issue 5
Volume 29
Pages 399-403
Author(s): Mills, P. D., Watts, B. V., DeRosier, J. M., Tomolo, A. M., Bagian, J. P.
Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States, and approximately 1,500 suicides occur in inpatient hospital units in the United States each year, This study examines the specific environmental factors involved in suicide attempts and completions in an ED in a large, nationally represented hospital sample (VA).
Added May 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
Suicide amongst psychiatric inpatients who abscond from the ward: a national clinical survey
2010
BMC Psychiatry
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 10
Pages 14
Author(s): Hunt, I. M., Windfuhr, K., Swinson, N., Shaw, J., Appleby, L., Kapur, N.
Research studies have shown that about 34-39% of patients in psychiatric wards go absconding. The goal of this study was to describe the social and clinical characteristics of people who had absconded from an inpatient psychiatric ward prior to suicide, including aspects of the clinical care they received.
Added April 2014
Challenges in Design and Transition to a Private Room Model in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
2006
Advances in Neonatal Care
Journal Article
Issue 5
Volume 6
Pages 271-280
Author(s): Carlson, B., Walsh, S., Wergin, T., Schwarzkopf, K., Ecklund, S.
The need for neonatal intensive care units (NICU) is increasing at a time when research suggests their designs need to change to provide a developmentally appropriate healing environment. One approach is a private room NICU model versus a large multibed ward. However, such a radical design change could be challenging to implement.
Added April 2014
Incidents relating to the intra-hospital transfer of critically ill patients
2004
Intensive Care Medicine
Journal Article
Issue 8
Volume 30
Pages 1579-1585
Author(s): Beckmann, U., Gillies, D. M., Berenholtz, S. M., Wu, A. W., Pronovost, P.
Transportation of critically ill patients between hospitals can increase complications. Intrahospital transportation poses many of the same risks. Examining these incidents could uncover ways to improve patient safety during transportation.
Added April 2014
Using a Task Analysis to Describe Nursing Work in Acute Care Patient Environments
2009
Journal of Nursing Administration
Journal Article
Issue 12
Volume 39
Pages 537-547
Author(s): Battisto, D., Pak, R., Vander Wood, M. A., Pilcher, J. J.
A growing body of research demonstrates linkages between workplace design and processes in healthcare facilities with staff and patient safety, operational efficiency, staff satisfaction, and medical errors. There has been less emphasis on the role of the built environment in helping or hindering care delivery. Research is needed on the contextualized activities performed by nurses and how nurses spend their time to measure the effects of interventions aimed at redesigning care to improve safety or efficiency or to understand the implications of policy changes for nursing practice.
Added April 2014
The impact of health facilities on healthcare workers’ well-being and performance
2009
International Journal of Nursing Studies
Journal Article
Issue 7
Volume 46
Pages 1025–1034
Author(s): Rechel, B., Buchan, J., McKee, M.
There is extensive research on the effect of healthcare environments on patients. But much less is known about health facilities’ impact the staff, even while there is growing recognition of the need for healthy working environments. Poor healthcare working environments can relate to the nature of the work—long and antisocial hours, little administrative support, physical labor, and, sometimes, violence.
Added February 2014
Interruptions and Geographic Challenges to Nurses' Cognitive Workload
2009
Journal of Nursing Care Quality
Journal Article
Issue 3
Volume 24
Pages 194–200
Author(s): Redding, D., Robinson, S.
Inpatient care is fast-paced and requires nurses to constantly shift their attention to make clinical decisions and care for patients in a constantly environment. Nurses integrate complex thinking with psychomotor and affective skills to deliver interventions. This thinking is continually disrupted by interruptions and distractions, which compete for their attention and can lead to errors or omissions and potentially pose a risk to patient safety.
Added January 2014
Mapping the Nursing Process: A New Approach for Understanding the Work of Nursing
2007
Journal of Nursing Administration
Journal Article
Issue 2
Volume 34
Pages 101-109
Author(s): Potter, P., Grayson, D., Boxerman, S., Sledge, J., Wolf, L., Evanoff, B., Marshall, J.
Over the last 10 years, hospitals have tried to reconcile patients’ demands for high-quality, safe care along with payers’ demands for lower costs. As a result, many hospitals are looking for ways to streamline work processes, gain productivity, reduce costs, and maintain quality. Human factors engineering (HFE) techniques, drawn from the sciences of industrial engineering, ergonomics, and mathematics, have been used to analyze clinical care processes and restructure patient care delivery.
Added January 2014
A Novel PACU Design for Noise Reduction
2008
Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 4
Volume 23
Pages 226-229
Author(s): Smykowski, L.
As redesign and renovation of patient care units occur, health care providers need to consider the importance of lowering environmental stressors. Noise in the hospital environment is one well documented problem, with detrimental effects to both patients and staff. The paper reviews the redesign of the organization's PACU that explored a unique floor plan to minimize noise and improve privacy.
Added October 2012
Role of the Physical and Social Environment in Promoting Health, Safety, and Effectiveness in the Healthcare Workplace
2006
The Center for Health Design
Report
Author(s): Joseph, A.
Added October 2012
A Play Program and Its Function in a Pediatric Hospital
1957
Pediatrics
Journal Article
Issue 2
Volume 19
Pages 293-302
Author(s): Tisza, V., Angoff, K.
Added October 2012
