Environmental Health

Hospitals are designing to heal Our world has been changing rapidly over the last 100 years, and amidst that change, health offices are becoming a whole new experience. Hospitals and doctor’s offices are being designed so their space feels more comfortable. With our culture becoming more educated, wealthy, and technological, people are demanding better places to receive health care in times of sickness. With all of this, the idea of a ‘therapeutic environment’ has been making its way in to awareness when designing new state of the art health care offices.
There are eight key considerations for building a therapeutic environment. Think about the patient and their support. When people are sick, a big stress reducer is for the patient to have friends and family with them. You want to create a space where people can come and be comfortable, not trying to cram three people on the bed that the patient is in. It is more relaxing when people can come and sit in their own space. Design to capture a sense of control. When trying to fight something off, you need to be relaxed and keep your immune system up. When you are stressed it weakens your immune system. You can do this by giving your patients more privacy, perhaps by by offering more private rooms. Studies have shown patients that do not have to worry about other people in their room have a much quicker recovery rate. Provide appropriate activities/ distractions. The same old white walls to stare at gets boring awfully quickly. Here are some things that provide stimulating distractions: fountains, aquaria, art, a respite area, a little garden, music, reading material. Studies have shown that patients that view a natural scene for at least five minutes a day have a much lower stress, along with dramatically quicker recoveries
Chose colors wisely, colors are crucial to how people feel. Lighting may play a role in what colors you choose and the type of patients that you are dealing with. Some times colors can have a negative effect. Click on this link to see what colors are best for different conditions. (Link)
Control Acoustics- This can be a really hard thing control. Hospitals are going to have periods of times where things are going to be loud and rushing, while other times it will be just minor noises. A simple thing to do is to provide headphones and books on tape. Also, having running water in places can be a soothing sound to patients. If you are building a new space, try to arrange places where it would be quieter for patients to stay. Aim for Consistency in wayfinding and graphing. When Wayfinding, it should not be producing anxiety, it should be eliminating it by taking away as many signs as possible. When you see a sign for emergencies in a room, it makes you start to panic. So if you try to make the sign more soothing by making it fancier looking, your patient will be less likely to scare. Some Children’s hospitals are changing the signs to familiar book characters for the different levels of the hospital.
Offer a resource center- when just getting diagnosed with something, it can be very frightening, and lots of questions need to be answered. Providing a small place for family to go to and have their questions answered, or do their own medical research, is a simple and effect commodity. Offering places for patients to get second opinions is also helpful. It shows the patient that you care about them and you want to help them lead a healthier life style.
	The last is to introduce nature whenever possible. Having small gardens visible for patients to see. Design your building to have views of nature. Having paths for patients to walk though can be a calming and relaxing. When you’re lying in bed, it is only natural to spend time looking out your window. It is a form of entertainment to see what is going on out in the world. Try to capture areas where sun light is most needed and how to get the most of it. When in doubt if it is going to be a therapeutic environment, think: “is this going to create stress, or eliminate it?” The goal is to make the patient to feel relaxed and calm so they can have the quickest recovery. How would you feel if you were to live in this place? Our world has been getting faster and higher Tec. Some of our new buildings do not have proper ventilation. The better the air quality, the faster the patient can heal. Clean Air PDF

Hospitals are designing to heal

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