Evidence Based Design in Healthcare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8duUzagm5w

Evidence-Based Design (EBD) is the process of basing decisions about the built environment on credible research to achieve the best possible outcomes.  Evidence based design is extremely important to the healthcare environment.  Studies show that a  the physical environment of a person can both physically and psychologically affect a person.  Designing a built environment based on the credible evidence will improve the safety and stress of the patients and even employees. 

Examples of Effective Evidence based design in Healthcare Environments

• providing ceiling mounted lifts -eliminating staff lifting patients and avoiding back problems
• provided directional signs- decrease stress of patients and staff.
• provide artwork with positive message- decreases stress
• use neutral colors- avoid the use of red which can cause a person to feel anxious and stressed in a healthcare environment.
• provide more wash areas or desanitizing areas throughout hospital- this reduces infections and viruses that could be passed on.
• single patient rooms- increases privacy and decreases stress for patient, and also reduces infections.
• provide plenty of natural lighting- gives patients and staff more psychological stability and makes areas more inviting. 
• high performance sound absorbing ceiling tiles- increase patient satisfaction and decrease the sound of nearby trauma.
• provide music during patient procedures- soothing the patient and distract from procedure.

Evidence Based design is crucial in designing for healthcare facilities because it provides the safety, psychological health, function, and flow of the overall facility.  Just think if some of the examples mentioned above where not implemented within the design of healthcare facilities, there would be chaos making patients anxious causing them to possibly injure themselves, and corrupt the work flow for staff.  Making design decisions based on the credible evidence avoids these potential injuries, increases overall work flow and productivity, and makes the environment more satisfying.

In my experience of interning at the VA I have had first hand experience of how important evidence based design is.  Here at the VA, we mostly order furniture that fits and is phsycially suitable for that space.  Through studying regulations that are in place and even our own mistakes, we have learned that even the smallest of things make a big impact. Here are a few examples that we came across that are violations and relate with evidence based design.

• caster chairs on vinyl or hard surface flooring (with the exception of task chairs)- this is a safety issue for patients and staff.
• There is to be no glass in rooms with demensa patients or those with mental illnesses- safety issue because if they break the glass they could injure themselves or others.
• Exam rooms and other patient room shall not have any sort of cloth material- cloth material can trap bacteria causing sicknesses.

Books to check out

The Practitioner's Guide to Evidence-Based Design, CHD Research Coalition

A Visual Reference for Evidence-Based Design, Jain Malkin

Evidence-Based Healthcare Design, Rosalyn Cama
Evidence-Based Design for Multiple Building Types, D. Kirk Hamilton, David H. Watkins
Sustainable Healthcare Architecture, Robin Guenther and Gail Vittori
Improving Healthcare with Better Building Design, Sara O. Marberry

Sources:

http://www.healthdesign.org/sites/default/files/HCLeader_1_BusCaseWP.pdf

http://www.healthdesign.org/edac/about