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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 33

A regional survey on residents’ preferences on patient-centered medical home design in rural areas

Author(s): Cai, H., Spreckelmeyer, K., Mendenhall, A., Li, D., Holmes, C., Levy, M.
The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is a delivery model for primary care that is characterized by the recognition of unique patient needs while providing accessible services, a focus on safety and quality, comprehensive care, and coordinated care.
Key Point Summary
Added December 2018

Radical systems change. Innovative strategies to improve patient satisfaction.

Author(s): Rave, N., Geyer, M., Reeder, B., Ernst, J., Goldberg, L., Barnard, C.
Added August 2016

The effect of hospital layout on caregiver-patient communication patterns

Author(s): Pachilova, R., Sailer, K.
This article suggests that the field of evidence-based design (EBD), which considers information from case evaluations and credible research during design-related decision processes, has only marginally examined hospital layouts and their effects. As a result, this study attempts to build on the tradition of “Space Syntax” research, which is a theory that explores how space controls and generates encounters between inhabitants and visitors of certain spaces and how these two groups engage in communication.
Key Point Summary
Added June 2016

Being Wheeled or Walking: A Qualitative Study of Patients’ Spatial Experience in Two Distinct Day Surgery Centers

Author(s): Annemans, M., Audenhove, C. V., Vermolen, H., Heylighen, A.
Added April 2016

Measuring the Structure of Visual Fields in Nursing Units

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.
Key Point Summary
Added January 2016

Pod Nursing on a Medical/Surgical Unit

Author(s): Friese, C. R., Grunawalt, J. C., Bhullar, S., Bihlmeyer, K., Chang, R., & Wood, W.
The project reported in this article uses a Pod Nursing (PN) care delivery model to enhance patient-nurse proximity and a team-based patient assignment to improve select nurse and patient outcomes.
Key Point Summary
Added January 2016

Measuring the Use of Examination Room Time in Oncology Clinics: A Novel Approach to Assessing Clinic Efficiency and Patient Flow

Author(s): Hamel, L. M., Chapman, R., Eggly, S., Penner, L. A., Tkatch, R., Vichich, J., Albrecht, T. L.
Inefficient use of time can drain resources and impede effective clinic flow. Long wait times in oncology units often result in higher costs for both caregivers and patients, while patients also tend to experience increased stress and reduced overall satisfaction with their treatment. Long wait times have also been shown to directly and indirectly reduce patient adherence to recommended treatments.
Key Point Summary
Added December 2015

Finding privacy from a public death: A qualitative exploration of how a dedicated space for end-of-life care in an acute hospital impacts on dying patients and their families

Author(s): Slatyer, S., Pienaar, C., Williams, A. M., Proctor, K., Hewitt, L.
Seriously ill patients die in hospitals around the world, and previous studies have shown that the factors that constitute a “good death” from the perspective of patients include control, comfort, family inclusion, sensitive communication, and peace. The quality of care provided to dying patients affects not only the patients, but bereaved families as well. It is therefore important for hospital environments to carefully consider the resources they provide towards quality end-of-life care.
Key Point Summary
Added December 2015

Centralized to hybrid nurse station: Communication and teamwork among nursing staff

Author(s): Zhang, Y., Soroken, L., Laccetti, M., Castillero, E. R. d., Konadu, A.
Nursing stations often act as the primary workspaces for various members of a healthcare team while patients aren’t being directly worked with. Centralized nursing stations can lead to higher rates of telephone and computer use and administrative tasks while decreasing time spent caring for patients. Conversely, decentralized nursing stations have been found to create feelings of isolation and poor communication among staff. To emphasize the positive aspects of both formats, the authors propose a hybrid nursing station design that features decentralized stations connected to centralized meeting spaces.
Key Point Summary
Added October 2015

Impact of the physical environment of psychiatric wards on the use of seclusion

Author(s): van der Schaaf, P. S., Dusseldorp, E., Keuning, F. M., Janssen, W. A., Noorthoorn, E. O.
Disturbed behavior and patient aggression within psychiatric wards can threaten both patient and staff safety. To manage these patients, psychiatric wards often will use coercive measures such as solitary confinement. Patient aggression arises from a complex interaction between patient characteristics, staff characteristics, and the characteristics of the physical environment of the psychiatric ward itself. Most studies have focused on the dynamics between patient and staff characteristics; little research has been done to investigate how the physical environment of psychiatric wards might influence patient aggression and subsequently the use of coercive measures.
Key Point Summary
Added October 2015

One size fits all? Mixed methods evaluation of the impact of 100% single-room accommodation on staff and patient experience, safety and costs

Author(s): Maben, J., Griffiths, P., Penfold, C., Simon, M, Anderson, J. E., Robert, G., Pizzo, E., Hughes, J., Murrells, T., Barlow, J.
Authors indicate that despite the trend to adopt single-patient rooms, there is a dearth of strong evidence regarding its effect on healthcare quality and safety. When a hospital in England moved to a new building with 100% single rooms, a before-and-after move study was conducted on patient and staff experience, safety outcomes, and cost analysis. The study found that over two-thirds of the patients and one-fifth of the staff preferred single rooms.
Key Point Summary
Added September 2015

Exploring Safety and Quality In a Hemodialysis Environment With Participatory Photographic Methods: A Restorative Approach.

Author(s): Marck, P., Molzahn, A., Berry-Hauf, R., Hutchings, L. G., Hughes, S.
The authors indicate that hemodialysis units can be fraught with numerous safety issues related to medication errors, lapses in communication, patient falls, equipment issues, infection control, etc. These issues can be critical in high-acuity units. This study used qualitative methods to identify existing and potential safety issues in a hemodialysis unit in a tertiary care hospital in Canada.
Key Point Summary
Added September 2015

Centralized and Decentralized Nurse Station Design: An Examination of Caregiver Communication, Work Activities, and Technology

Author(s): Gurascio-Howard, L., Malloch, K.
Patients need to be close to a nurse (RN) for easy access to care and to save travel time. Centralized nurse stations are placed in one location to serve a group of patient rooms.
Key Point Summary
Added August 2015

Impact of the Design of Neonatal Intensive Care Units on Neonates, Staff, and Families: A Systematic Literature Review

Author(s): Shahheidari, M., Homer, C.
The authors indicate that the design of NICUs incorporating single family rooms as evidence indicates this room type contributes to the better development of babies, facilitates increased parental involvement in care, controls infection, and reduces noise and length of stay.
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

The relationship between birth unit design and safe, satisfying birth: Developing a hypothetical model

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.
Key Point Summary
Added December 2014

NICU redesign from open ward to private room: A longitudinal study of parent and staff perceptions

Author(s): Swanson, J. R., Peters, C., Lee, B. H.
For the past 20 years, floor plans incorporating single-patient room designs have been growing in popularity, especially in the context of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The differences between private-room (PR) floor plans and open-ward (OW) floor plans have been thoroughly studied, with previous research showing how OW NICUs can limit privacy and generate other negative environmental effects for patients and family members.
Key Point Summary
Added November 2014

An exploration of the meanings of space and place in acute psychiatric care

Author(s): Andes, M., Shattell, M. M.
The effectiveness of acute psychiatric care (or short-term psychiatric care) owes much to the design of the physical space inhabited by both patients and mental health professionals. The structure of psychiatric care centers and the barriers they either create or remove between patients and healthcare practitioners can potentially influence patient recovery and employee well-being. Some argue that private, physically exclusionary spaces designed specifically for nurses are necessary in order to protect sensitive information and provide psychological solace for the nurses themselves.
Key Point Summary
Added November 2014

Effect of intensive care environment on family and patient satisfaction: a before–after study

Author(s): Jongerden, I. P., Slooter, A. J., Peelen, L. M., Wessels, H., Ram, C. M., Kesecioglu, J., Schneider, M. M., van Dijk, D.
Intensive care units or ICUs are changing from multi-bed units to single-patient room units. According to the authors, these changes may have an impact on family satisfaction. With the patient often in a critical non-communicative position, it falls on family members to make decisions and evaluate satisfaction.
Key Point Summary
Added November 2014

Satisfaction with the emergency department environment decreases with length of stay

Author(s): Walsh, M., Knott, J. C.
Added September 2014