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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 122

Do absorption and realistic distraction influence performance of component task surgical procedure?

Author(s): Pluyter, J. R., Buzink, S. N., Rutkowski, A. F., Jakimowicz, J. J.
Surgeons’ ability of focusing their attention on surgical tasks directly impacts their performance on surgical operations, which is an important factor influencing quality of care, work efficiency, patient satisfaction, and many other healthcare outcomes. Attention or concentration is more important for performing minimal invasive surgeries which involve complex technologies and put high physical and cognitive demands on surgeons.
Key Point Summary
Added November 2012

Patient satisfaction in an acute medicine department in Morocco

Author(s): Soufi, G., Belayachi, J., Himmich, S., Ahid, S., Soufi, M., Zekraoui, A., Abouqal, R.
Patients' satisfaction is an important indicator for quality of care. Measuring healthcare quality and improving patient satisfaction have become increasingly prevalent, especially among healthcare providers and purchasers of healthcare. This is mainly due to the fact that consumers are becoming increasingly more knowledgeable about healthcare. This Open Source study focuses on inpatient satisfaction with hospital care in an Arabic culture in Morocco.
Key Point Summary
Added October 2012

Identification of Critical Factors Affecting Flexibility in Hospital Construction Projects

Author(s): Olsson, N., Hansen, G.
Added October 2012

Editorial for special issue of applied ergonomics on patient safety

Author(s): Carayon, P.
Added October 2012

Innovative design solutions: Second floor emergency department?

Author(s): Krug, S., Bertani, K., Barton, S. A.
Added March 2013

Medication Room Madness: Calming the Chaos

Author(s): Conrad, C., Fields, W., McNamara, T., Cone, M., Atkins, P.
This article describes a medication safety project that wanted to improve the physical design and organizational layout of the medication room, reduce nurse interruptions and distractions, and create a standard medication process for enhanced patient safety and efficiency. This successful change improved the medication administration process, decreased medication errors, and enhanced nursing satisfaction.
Key Point Summary
Added December 2013

Noise in the Operating Room—What Do We Know? A Review of the Literature

Author(s): Hasfeldt, D., Laerkner, E., Birkelund, R.
Noise is a general stressor and should be avoided in the operating room (OR). However, over the last 10 years, while the focus has been on preventing air pollution and maximizing sterility in the OR, very little attention has gone toward preventing noise pollution. Meanwhile, there is more and more noisy technological equipment in the OR, and it can be assumed that problems with noise in the OR have not decreased.
Key Point Summary
Added January 2014

Garden Walking for Depression: A Research Report

Author(s): McCaffrey, R., Hanson, C., McCaffrey, W.
Millions of people experience depression every year, including the elderly, where it can be particularly debilitating as it effects physical, mental, and social functioning. Access to the outdoors, and increased sunlight, might help treat depression, as well as improve morale, self-confidence, cooperation, social interaction, and physical functioning for residents of a geriatric facility.
Key Point Summary
Added February 2014

Nursing Staff, Patient, and Environmental Factors Associated With Accurate Pain Assessment

Author(s): Shugarman, L., Goebel, J., Ianto, A., Asch, S., Sherbourne, C., Lee, M., Rubenstein, L., Wen, L., Meredith, L., Lorenz, K.
Caregiver assessments of patient pain are important for diagnostic and other reasons. Distracting environments when vital-sign measurement during intake were linked with inaccurate estimates of pain by nurses and nursing support staff (for example, licensed vocational nurses).
Key Point Summary
Added February 2014

Health Care Wayfinding Integrates Four Aspects to Become Carefinding

Author(s): Cooper, R.
Carefinding is a term that refers to an evidence-based approach to designing wayfinding systems in healthcare settings, catering to the needs of the users of those spaces, particularly patients and their caregivers. Successful wayfinding in healthcare facilities requires consideration of the user experience, the wayfinding process, the wayfinding plan, and implementation of the plan.
Key Point Summary
Added March 2014

Multisensory Stimulation to Improve Functional Performance in Moderate to Severe Dementia—Interim Results

Author(s): Collier, L., McPherson, K., Ellis-Hill, C., Staal, J., Bucks, R.
One of the innovative interventions for dementia care is the use of multisensory environments (MSEs). It is designed to stimulate senses, providing an activity-based intervention and is argued to address imbalance in sensory stimulation by pacing sensory-stimulating activity with sensory-calming activity. This sensory pacing may assist people with dementia in coping with confusion and behavior changes that are the consequences of this progressive, debilitating illness. However, the value of MSEs for people with dementia has yet to be established. Therefore, this study aimed to explore to what extent the sensory components of MSEs influence functional performance in people with moderate to severe dementia.
Key Point Summary
Added May 2014

Centralized vs. Decentralized Nursing Stations: Effects on Nurses’ Functional Use of Space and Work Environment

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."
Key Point Summary
Added May 2014

Applying root cause analysis to improve patient safety: decreasing falls in postpartum women.

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.
Key Point Summary
Added November 2014

Adding additional grab bars as a possible strategy for safer hospital stays

Author(s): Tzeng, H.-M., Yin, C.-Y., Schechtman,S.
Inpatient falls are the most commonly reported incidents in hospitals, yet they are largely avoidable and, therefore, an unsolved issue in patient care. It comes as no surprise that patient falls tend to occur most frequently in patient rooms, patient bathrooms, and hallways—the places in which patients spend the majority of their time during their hospital stay. Falls are attributed to breakdowns in communication between patients and caregivers, inadequate assistance, and also the design of the physical environment.
Key Point Summary
Added February 2014

America's Health Centers

Author(s): NACHC
Added October 2012

Wandering and the Physical Environment

Author(s): Algase, D., Beattie, E.R.A., Antonakos, C., Beel-Bates, C.A., Yao.L.
Wandering is one of the most challenging and potentially dangerous behavior seen among individuals with Alzheimer's Disease. Wandering is often associated with negative consequences such as getting lost, fatigue, injury and even death. The physical environment has been identified as a key component in addressing wandering and other dementia-related behavior. However, there is very little research that clearly identifies the role of specific physical environmental features either singly or in combination with other features in promoting or reducing dementia-related behaviors such as wandering.
Key Point Summary
Added October 2012

Impact of visual art in patient waiting rooms: survey of patients attending a transplant clinic in Dumfries

Author(s): Cusack, P, Lankston, L., Isles, C.
Waiting is a core component of the healthcare experience which can induce stress and anxiety in patients and their caregivers. In a Quality Improvement Survey conducted across nine adult renal units the clinic waiting area at Cumfried received the highest score. This study evaluates which aspects of the waiting area were important to the patients and could have impacted their satisfaction scores.
Key Point Summary
Added October 2012

Influences of the physical environment on neuropsychiatric symptoms and other outcomes in assisted living residents

Author(s): Bicket, M. C., Samus, Q. M., McNabney, M., Onyike, C. U., Mayer, L. S., Brandt, J., Rabins, J., Lyketsos, C., Rosenblatt, A.
Assisted living (AL) facilities are thought to serve residents with minor functional limitations. However, recent research suggests that AL facilities also primarily house a cognitively disabled elderly population with considerable general medical morbidity, in which about two-thirds of the residents suffer from dementia. While the physical environment has been shown to correlate with cognitive and physical well-being of residents in nursing homes (NHs), few studies have systematically investigated the effects of the physical environment of AL facilities on the outcomes.
Key Point Summary
Added September 2014

Universal symbols in healthcare: Developing a Symbols-Based Wayfinding System: Implementation Guidebook

Author(s): Hablamos Juntas
Added October 2012

The functional mock-up: The University Medical Center at Princeton inpatient room mock-up project

Author(s): Watkins, N., Lorenz, S., Naos, I.
Added April 2013