Building Healthier Healthcare

Design Components To Advance The Medical Industry

 

The need to make our hospitals and medical facilities healthier in order to enhance both the patient experience and the quality of life of our workforce is one of the most recent topics in healthcare.

In the United States, a lot of companies are working hard and investing a lot of money to make their workplaces cleaner, healthier, and more welcoming. This is not a priority for healthcare organizations, though. It’s simple to forget that hospitals’ main goal is to improve patient health when the emphasis of new hospital development is on delivery and efficiency. Therefore, what can be done to make hospitals and medical facilities in the future healthier for both staff and patients?

Leaders in the field of health are starting to talk about what needs to be done to make environments as healthy as possible in other nations. Consider these elements when thinking about enhancing the environment for health:

Improving the patient experience is a primary goal in the planning and development of future hospitals, and the design of healthy hospital buildings has several additional advantages. Healthy environments can hasten patient recovery, lower the risk of hospital acquired infections, staff retention, produce a more effective and efficient workforce, and enhance the visitor experience.

Fundamentally, all future hospital design and development initiatives are focused on enhancing the patient experience. Planning for new buildings can make them healthier by taking health and wellness into account. To enhance the patient experience, the “health of the future” must be created.

 

How can healthy hospitals be developed?

 

At a basic level, new hospital buildings can be made healthier in the same way as non-healthcare buildings by incorporating health and wellness aspects into design, construction, and long-term activities.

Although the principles are the same, the clinical needs of health care must be carefully considered and evaluated. Although daylight, views, good indoor air quality, acoustic and thermal comfort are important aspects of healthy buildings, they must be balanced with the needs of the hospital. Some aspects of healthcare buildings, such as accessibility, infection control and visitor wayfinding, may be even more important in healthcare settings.

Must these principles be required in all designs? If you asked any patient or hospital workforce whether they would like to have a quiet, well ventilated, adequately heated building with views of nature, plenty of daylight, and ease of access, the answer would be an affirmative ‘yes’. So, why aren’t we seeing medical practices and healthcare facilities designed with this in mind?

There are numerous reasons why these and other similar principles are not incorporated into healthcare design, including an existing building portfolio, short-term financial planning, a difficult to quantify return-on-investment, and the need to remove these roadblocks first. Decision makers are frequently under-informed about the return on investment.

 

Healthcare challenges

 In healthcare buildings, an additional challenge is the intensive use of materials that are not normally used in the workplace. Harsh chemicals, solvents, and cleaning agents, as well as decontamination procedures and dangerous drugs used to control infectious diseases, are all hazards that the average worker is not exposed to on a daily basis.

Poor indoor air quality in hospitals and medical offices has been shown to cause poor health for workers and potential long-term problems. Asthma disproportionately affects healthcare workers in the United States, and available evidence suggests that exposure to chemicals in cleaning and disinfecting products may play a role. Exposures to VOCs must be accurately characterized.

To eliminate negative health effects from these essential and often life-saving materials, building systems must be designed to remove them quickly from working environments, reducing any negative effects.

Furthermore, designing for ease of maintenance can reduce the need for chemical compounds for cleaning, as well as the potential interactions between different classes of chemicals used in the building. Mitigating the potential effects of chemical compounds begins with only having the materials that are required in the building. In other words, potentially harmful compounds can be eliminated from building materials, cleaning agents, and other non-clinical aspects of the building through appropriate planning, resulting in reduced exposure for staff, patients, and visitors.

If building performance can improve concentration and, as a result, reduce mistakes or stress, this can only be good for patient outcomes and experience.

Better Air, Better Health, More Productivity!

 Air quality is an important consideration in the design of healthy buildings. Poor ventilation can cause headaches, fatigue, shortness of breath, and many other symptoms. Many diseases around the world are associated with poor indoor air quality.

Additionally, research shows that poor building environmental quality can lead to lower productivity and higher absenteeism. It is important to recognize low productivity and concentration in the clinic. In the hospital environment, inaccurate diagnoses and medical errors can lead to lack of focus and productivity leading to litigation.

 

Designing Healthy Buildings

As new products with health claims continue to enter the market, the performance of “healthy” materials is a sector that is constantly changing. The construction industry is paying more attention to the health effects of building products. Using your contractor knowledge on these materials can help to cut down on cost and planning.

Meetings with your builder should include a discussion of all items required for the day-to-day operation of the building. Proper handover, commissioning, and verification of the building, for example, should be a health-related consideration when meeting with your commercial contractor.

 

Improving Patient Satisfaction

The goal of developing the future hospital is to improve the patient experience. The hospital of the future will provide an environment that is appealing to talented clinicians and beneficial to patient interaction, care, and experience through innovation, design, air quality control, thermal health, lighting, views, and active design. Visitors, as well as healthcare professionals and hospital staff, will benefit.

The influence of a building on employee and patient health should not be overstated because it is not more important than work stress, lifestyle, and other factors. However, if building performance can improve concentration and, as a result, reduce mistakes or stress, this can only be good for patient outcomes and experience.

Hospitals are intended to provide care and comfort to those in need, so it is critical that the design of the hospital is welcoming and calming. Using comfortable furniture, warm colors, plants, and artwork to create an inviting atmosphere can help make the hospital environment more inviting and home-like. This could contribute to a sense of calm in the medical setting.

Another design idea is to use comfortable and easy-to-clean furniture, flooring, and other materials in order to make the hospital more sanitary. Furthermore, adding plenty of windows and natural light to the hospital can help to reduce stress and make the environment more pleasant for patients and staff. Finally, include areas for patients to spend time with their families, such as private lounges or outdoor areas, to help make the hospital feel more like home.

Tenant improvements for medical and dental offices are among our commercial services. Medical and healthcare professionals’ needs change on a daily basis. We’re here to assist you in making your medical practice more sustainable for the future.