2/3- Healthcare Design

One of the books I selected for research, Design and Health: The Therapeutic Benefits of Design, is comprised of various educators and designer’s research done on specific factors or aspects of the designed environment. Some of the research done by a professor from Texas A&M University, Dr. Roger Ulrich, caught my attention. His name was mentioned in the journal article I chose for bringing attention to the subject of healthcare environments and their effect of the patients that experience them. In a section written by Ulrich titled Effects of Healthcare Environmental Design on Medical Outcomes, he addresses and breaks down the factors that go into creating a positive healing environment. A college who has studied Ulrich’s research and that of many others said “there is suggestive evidence that aspects of the designed environment exerts significant affects on clinical outcomes for patients” (Ruben et al., 1998). Ulrich lists and briefly discusses some different environmental characteristics that have been indicated through studies to have an affect on patient’s outcomes. The first mentioned is noise. He found that in loud and noisy environments the patients had a much higher annoyance. The noise not only affected the patients, but higher stress was found in the staff as well. In quieter surroundings, there was overall better sleep quality and less irritability (Hilton, 1985). Other areas where improvements could be seen in recovery time were through the presence of windows and the effect of natural light, the number of patience to a single room, the choice of flooring materials, how the furniture is arranged, the air quality the patient is receiving, as well as the art and music they are exposed to. One factor that had an overwhelming impact was the visual presence of nature, whether it is through a window or through art. Incorporating nature into design is classified as a positive distraction and has been linked to patients having lower rates of anxiety and depression as well as lower blood pressure and reduced heart rates (Ulrich et al., 1991). This idea of taking the patients and staff’s mental wellbeing into consideration is talked about as Supportive Design. Through this type of thinking, the goals of any design are to foster control, foster social support, and facilitate access to nature and other positive distractions.