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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 27

Designing for efficiency: Examining the impact of centralized and decentralized nurse stations on interdisciplinary care processes

Author(s): Fay, L., Santiago, J. E., Real, K., Isaacs, K.
Between 1980 and 2008, adult inpatient units increased in size by 118%. Size increases on this scale may negatively impact operational efficiency, waste reduction efforts, and workplace safety.
Key Point Summary
Added June 2020

"Let's Sit Forward": Investigating Interprofessional Communication, Collaboration, Professional Roles, and Physical Space at EmergiCare

Author(s): Dean, M., Gill, R., Barbour, J. B.
Due to the fact that emergency department (ED) caregivers are constantly involved in interprofessional, knowledge-intensive conversations, effective modes of communication necessarily play a key role in promoting patient health and safety. Previous studies have explored how the physical environment directly affects modes of communication, and how these two dimensions of the healthcare environment constantly intersect with each other.
Key Point Summary
Added August 2016

Layout Planning Problems in Health Care

Author(s): Arnolds, I., Nickel, S., Eiselt, A. H., Marianov, V.
Added May 2016

Adapting to Family-Centered Hospital Design: Changes in Providers’ Attitudes over a Two-Year Period

Author(s): France, D., Throop, P., Joers, B., Allen, L., Parekh, A., Rickard, D., Deshpande, J.
Although hospitals are being designed based on evidence-based design principles, it’s unclear how working in such an environment influences providers’ attitudes and professional performance.
Key Point Summary
Added January 2016

Making acuity-adaptable units work: lessons from the field

Author(s): Zimring, C., Seo, H.
Acuity-Adaptable Units (AAUs) are rooms with a treatment model that allows all stages of patient care to come to the patient’s unit from the time of admission to discharge. Minimizing the amount of patient transfers helps decrease medication errors, infection rates, and medical complications. This helps avoid injuries and infections connected with patient transfers from unit to unit through transitions in stages of care.
Key Point Summary
Added January 2016

Leading Change During an Inpatient Critical Care Unit Expansion

Author(s): Braungardt, T. & Fought, S. G.
Acute care hospitals are changing rapidly to address economic and technologic advancements and meet community needs. The authors describe one medical center’s use of Kotter’s work on leading change to expand the neuroscience intensive care unit from 10 to 30 beds to meet community needs, improve hospital efficiencies, and increase bed capacity.
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

Realizing improved patient care through human-centered operating room design: A human factors methodology for observing flow disruptions in the cardiothoracic operating room

Author(s): Palmer, G., Abernathy, J. H., Swinton, G., Allison, D., Greenstein, J., Shappell, S., Juang, K., Reeves, S. T.
The authors indicate that disruptions in the workflow of surgeries can extend surgery times and contribute to the escalation of healthcare costs.
Key Point Summary
Added March 2015

Patient Safety in the Cardiac Operating Room: Human Factors and Teamwork A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

Author(s): Wahr, J. A., Prager, R. L., Abernathy, J. H., Martinez, E. A., Salas, E., Seifert, P. C., Groom, R. C., Spiess, B. D., Searles, B. E., Sundt, T. M., Sanchez, J. A., Shappell, S. A., Culig, M. H., Lazzara, E. H., Fitzgerald, D. C., Thourani, V. H., Eghtesady, P., Ikonomidis, J. S., England, M. R., Sellke, F. W., Nussmeier, N. A.
The cardiac surgical operating room is a complex environment, where patient lives are saved or considerably improved with the help of sophisticated equipment and skilled personnel. Although outcomes are improving, adverse events still occur, many of which are preventable. This statement is the result of a review of literature that presented evidence on patient safety and interventions that worked in enhancing patient safety in the cardiac OR.
Key Point Summary
Added March 2015

The effects of physical environments in medical wards on medication communication processes affecting patient safety

Author(s): Liu, W., Manias, E., Gerdtz, M.
The physical environment of a hospital has a wide range of effects on the quality of care administered to patients. In the context of medication distribution, seamless communication among healthcare professionals of different backgrounds is imperative, and in many cases the physical environment itself can have positive or negative effects on this complex process.
Key Point Summary
Added November 2014

Quality of life and building design in residential and nursing homes for older people

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...
Key Point Summary
Added September 2014

Healthcare Leadership White Paper Series - Maximizing The Impact of Nursing Care Quality: A Closer Look at the Hospital Work Environment and the Nurse’s Impact on Patient-Care Quality

Author(s): Hendrich, A.L., Chow, M.
Current hospital work environments have inefficient work processes, physical designs, technology infrastructure, and organizational cultures that cause inefficiencies and nursing stressors that compromise direct patient care.
Key Point Summary
Added September 2014

Lean Thinking in Emergency Departments: A Critical Review

Author(s): Holden, R. J.
Added May 2014

Challenges in Design and Transition to a Private Room Model in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

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.
Key Point Summary
Added April 2014

Using a Task Analysis to Describe Nursing Work in Acute Care Patient Environments

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.
Key Point Summary
Added April 2014

Role of the Physical and Social Environment in Promoting Health, Safety, and Effectiveness in the Healthcare Workplace

Author(s): Joseph, A.
Added October 2012

Professional Perspectives On Family- Centered Care

Author(s): Center, C.C.M.
Added October 2012

Designing with health in mind. Innovative design elements can make hospitals safer, more healing places

Author(s): Sadler, B.L.
Added October 2012

Use of a portable forced air system to convert existing hospital space into a mass casualty isolation area

Author(s): Rosenbaum, R.A., Benyo, J.S., O'Connor, R.E., Passarello, B.A., Williams, D.R., Humphrey, B.D., Ross, R.W., Berry, J.M., Krebs, J.G.
Added October 2012

Team Communications in the Operating Room: Talk Patterns, Sites of Tension, and Implications for Novices

Author(s): Lingard, L., Reznick, R., Espin, S., Regehr, G., DeVito, I.
Added October 2012