Anne DiNardo (HCD/Forge)
Improving healthcare environments for staff remains an important topic across the industry, as more professionals recognize there’s still work to be done. Staff burnout, retention challenges, and projected workforce shortfalls continue to impact healthcare organizations, prompting clients to turn to their design partners for help addressing these issues.
A recent report, Gensler’s 2026 Healthcare Workplace Survey, offers some insight into where design can make a difference. The survey of more than 1,200 frontline healthcare providers explored questions including “What amenities do employees want and use the most?” and “Is there evidence linking design to employee well-being and burnout?”
Among the findings: Workers in higher-rated hospital environments report lower levels of burnout and are less likely to plan to leave the industry. Of employees who said they planned to leave hospital work within three years, 49 percent cited the stressful hospital environment as the most common reason.
The survey also found that respondents who rated their patient-care spaces as highly effective were more likely to agree that their hospital provides a great working experience. Providers with access to outdoor spaces and other amenities also reported lower levels of burnout.
Yet opportunities to connect with nature remain limited. While 47 percent of respondents said outdoor spaces are easy to access, only 42 percent reported easy access to views of nature. In fact, views of nature ranked among the top predictors of workplace effectiveness.
As noted in the report, these findings can help guide design decisions and investments likely to have the greatest impact on workers. “Beyond the obvious goal of helping providers thrive in the workplace, this investigation aims to make hospitals more effective and improve patient outcomes,” the authors write.
It’s encouraging to see the conversation around supporting healthcare staff continue to grow and evolve. The topic is also well represented among the semifinalists in Healthcare Design’s Breaking Through conceptual design competition, with several concepts tackling staff needs head on.
Staff well-being is also a prominent theme across the educational schedule for the 2026 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo, which returns to New Orleans this month. Visit hcdexpo.com to explore this year’s events and plan your schedule using the website and app.
Taken together, these efforts underscore a growing recognition that designing better environments for healthcare workers isn’t simply an added benefit—it’s a critical investment in the future of healthcare.
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design magazine and can be reached at [email protected].
