Nightingale Awards Jurors Share Insights On Top Healthcare Product Winners

A technology solution that combines interactive positive distractions and room controls to support de-escalation in behavioral health settings. A reusable fabric privacy curtain that reduces the strain and time required for staff to change out curtains. And a manual-operated window shade that eliminates cords, improving both safety and maintenance.
These are some of the product innovations that rose to the top in the 2024 Nightingale Awards product design competition at the Healthcare Design Conference + Expo, held last October in Indianapolis.
This annual program recognizes product design and innovations that support healing and productivity. As part of the judging process, a jury of healthcare architects, interior designers, and facility executives visits with exhibitors prior to the expo hall opening to examine the products, hear about specific features from participating companies, and ask questions of the manufacturers as they consider how the entries meet the awards program criteria.
The judges then determine gold and silver winners in specific product categories, from architectural products to flooring and furniture, as well as recognize those for sustainability and innovation advancements. In 2024, 34 products received awards across 16 categories.
While the experience gives jurors a front-row seat to observe new products and design features for healthcare environments, it also provides an opportunity for them to gauge the overall market.
Nightingale juror roundtable discussion
To hear their insights, Healthcare Design invited Nightingale jurors to a roundtable discussion where they shared what stood out to them at the HCD Conference as well as what product needs and challenges are still on their radars.
In December 2024, Editor-in-Chief Anne DiNardo moderated a discussion via Zoom with Kathleen Benoit, associate principal, project manager, Architects Alaska (Wasilla, Alaska); Lauren Cole, senior director, planning and design, Providence Health (Portland, Ore.); Angela Crum, associate partner, director, healthcare practice, Kirksey Architecture (North Texas); Julie Dumser, RN, principal, Branches Health Consulting (Indianapolis); Christina Early, project manager-construction, Hamilton Healthcare System (Dalton, Ga.); Heather Flannery, principal, Hord Coplan Macht (Baltimore); Pam Houston, architect, healthcare planner, CPL Architecture Engineering Planning (Raleigh, N.C.); Margi Kaminski, principal, health interiors practice leader, CannonDesign (Chicago); and Jennifer Kenson, principal, FCA (Philadelphia).
Read on to hear what they shared.
Winners delivered solutions to address operational, clinical challenges

Lauren Cole (Headshot credit: Courtesy of Lauren Cole)
While continued advancements to products for healthcare environments, including improved aesthetics and expanded color and textile options, made an impression on jurors, the products that really stood out demonstrated a clear understanding of facilities’ operational and clinical challenges and provided solutions to address them.
“The entries that we were excited about were actively solving problems that our teams, whether its design or facilities, are up against every day,” says Cole of Providence Health.
One of those winning products was Standard Textile’s AMY Privacy Curtain, a reusable, all-fabric curtain with a Y-Hook tab design, says Cole. The design replaces plastic, metal, hooks, grommets, or snaps, supporting rapid change-outs and laundering, which helps address staffing shortages and room turnover. “It’s genius,” Cole says. “It might seem like a small detail, but it solves a lot of operational problems for us.”
Other jurors agreed, awarding the curtain system a Gold Award in the Architectural Products: Non-Clinical category and the Best of Sustainability Award.

Christina Early (Headshot credit: Hamilton Healthcare System)
“I think [the company has] done its homework,” says Hamilton Healthcare System’s Early. “They’ve listened. I think more manufacturers can have those same advantages. If they take a minute and go back to the root cause [of an issue], they can come up with some great solutions.”
Read the Nightingale Awards Best of Sustainability Q+A here.
In addition to solutions-oriented products, the jurors say they were also impressed with entries that are backed by research or data about their effectiveness in real-world environments—especially as internal design teams at facilities continue to run lean.
“Having someone help us with the burden of post-occupancy evaluation would be incredibly helpful,” says Cole. “We all understand the value of it, but we don’t have the time or the resources to devote to it.”
During Recornect’s presentation of its CoWin Digital Media Wall, a technology solution featuring a customizable interface with applications, games, and room controls to support de-escalation in behavioral health settings, company representatives shared research with Nightingale jurors showing that the product resulted in a 60 percent reduction in the use of restraints.

Pam Houston (Headshot credit: Richard Barlow Photography, Inc.)
Those findings—along with the product’s all-in-one-solution for behavioral health environments—helped earn CoWin the Best of Competition Award. The technology product also can be customized to support different patient needs, providing a flexible solution that can appeal to a variety of age ranges.
“Having a screen in a patient room is nothing new, nor is the surround for protection and ligature resistance,” CPL’s Houston says. “It was more the way it’s being programmed and the way it’s being utilized in the room—that interactive component is a huge part of it.”
The panelists say they also appreciated product features that are more accessible to a broad range of users of different ages and abilities.
For example, the solar shades with Newton High-Speed Lite Lift technology by Standard Textile and Altex feature a loop at the end of the wand that can be pulled to raise and lower the shade.

Margi Kaminski (Headshot credit: Courtesy of CannonDesign)
“For an older adult, it’s very difficult to twist the wand if you have an arthritic hand,” says CannonDesign’s Kaminski. “But that loop design makes it more accessible.”
Read the Nightingale Awards Best of Competition Q+A here.
Healthcare product market demands innovation
Behavioral health products have been on Nightingale judges’ radar for several years as growing demand for services and facility improvements continue to drive the market for new products.
Looking at this year’s entrants in the category, Benoit says she was encouraged to see that products are “becoming much more aesthetically pleasing.”

Kathleen Benoit (Headshot credit: Courtesy of Architects Alaska)
For example, she notes, Pineapple Contracts’ Arc bathroom line, which took home a Gold Award in the Behavioral Health Bathroom Fittings & Furnishings category, looks like a piece of furniture but is seamless and safe for patients and their caregivers.
She also appreciated Visa Lighting’s Liberty Switches for having clean lines.
“It’s simple yet rated for high-abuse areas,” Benoit says. “I would specify it in any environment.”
The product was recognized with a Nightingale Innovation Award.
Read the Nightingale Awards Best of Innovation Q+A here.
Along with these improvements, several jurors noted that there could be an opportunity for some behavioral health furniture to be considered for other acute care environments, to meet a facility’s need for durable and cleanable furnishings that support a range of patients.

Jennifer Kenson (Headshot credit: Alyssa Maloof)
“I think there are spaces in medical units where this type of furniture could be utilized, like family lounges,” Kenson of FCA says.
Branches Health Consulting’s Dumser agrees, adding that she’s seeing more product features such as secure clean outs, fabrics, and color options that could make them more flexible for use in acute care settings and “not just pegged as behavioral health.”
Flannery says expanding those product lines so they’re safe and appropriate for different uses and departments could help blur the lines between different care settings to support a holistic facility design.

Julie Dumser (Headshot credit: Captures by Chrissy Malott)
“You get this cohesive look across an entire system without thinking, ‘I know I just stepped into behavioral health, and now I know I’m in the labor and delivery department,’” she says. “It’s nicer with those blurred lines, so everyone feels that they’re being treated the same.”
However, Cole notes that some behavioral health products come at a premium, which may limit their application on some projects. “We don’t always have the budget to support distributing it across the facility as much as we would like.”
CannonDesign’s Kaminski adds that while manufacturers have listened to the industry’s needs for safe, durable, and aesthetically pleasing products for behavioral health environments, many options use plastic materials to meet these needs. As the industry continues to make strides, she says she’d like to see other alternatives.
“The pandemic accelerated interest in behavioral health, so now the monies are there and therefore the research and development are definitely accelerated, and I think it shows,” she says.
Future demands and healthcare product opportunities
Looking to future needs for healthcare environments, Early says she sees an opportunity for more products and services to support renovations, such as furniture, transitional flooring solutions, and accessories that complement or enhance the existing built environment.
“We’re trying to find things that actually mirror up and functionally work in a space where I may keep the casework, but I might change the laminate to a solid surface or the flooring may change,” she says. “When you’re in an old environment and trying to renovate and update it to the new standards or branding, it’s a challenge.”
Kenson says she’d like to see more medical equipment “catch up to the furniture industry,” such as non-plastic options for waste bins and soiled materials containers that better complement patient room designs, as well as more aesthetically pleasing storage options for personal protective equipment that are “nice without having to do a custom built-in.”

Angela Crum (Headshot credit: Courtesy of Kirksey Architecture )
As healthcare clients continue to face financial pressures amid rising acuity care needs and an ever-changing market, Kirksey Architecture’s Crum says she is seeing more scrutiny over project budgets and price points, driving demand for more affordable products.
“My most recent clients are looking for lounge guest chairs that meet the quality that healthcare environments demand under $400,” she says. “They’re looking for very tight price points that I’ve never had to accommodate before.”
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design. She can be reached at [email protected].
Healthcare Design Magazine’s 25th Anniversary Highlights Industry’s Transformation

Image credit: Emerald/HCD
Something exciting arrived in my mailbox over the holidays: a copy of Healthcare Design’s inaugural issue. Unwrapping and holding the 148-page magazine in my hands, I’ll admit I geeked out a little.
Launched in November 2001, Healthcare DESIGN (as it was spelled then) began as a partnership between The Center for Health Design and publishing company Medquest Communications LLC to present the Architectural Design Showcase, a special section of the largest peer-reviewed healthcare design competition ever published. (We continue to publish the Design Showcase competition annually in the August issue).
Rounding out the first issue was a feature on green building design, project case studies, and a specialty directory of companies offering key supplies and services (aka, our annual Buyers Guide).
As I turned the pages, I found articles sharing strategies related to acoustics, sustainable design, and patient experience—some of the same issues challenging facilities and project teams today.
However, there’s one topic from that first issue that I think has been settled. In an article titled “A Tour of the Healing Environment,” Jain Malkin, president of interior design firm Jain Malkin Inc., wrote: “Too often hospital senior management and physicians in leadership positions fail to recognize the potential of the [healing environment], relegating the concept to a current ‘trend’ of superficial significance.”
Today, the significance of the built environment in healing, safety, and patient and staff satisfaction is well established. This magazine’s archives are filled with groundbreaking projects, research, and insight from thought leaders that showcase this industry’s transformation.
As part of Healthcare Design’s 25th anniversary recognition, we’re planning a variety of coverage throughout the year that looks back on how far the industry has come and what the next 25 years might hold.
For starters, we’ve introduced a new “Looking Back” column, where we ask industry leaders to reflect on a moment when they saw the industry shift and how that influenced the sector. JumpGarden Consulting’s Sheila Cahnman kicks off the series here.
I also invite you to share your own views on industry milestones and predictions for the future by emailing me at [email protected].
Cheers to 25 years and counting!
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design and can be reached at [email protected].
2024 HCD Forum Recap

2024 HCD Forum
Tree-topped mountains, blue skies, and crisp fall air greeted attendees at the eighth annual Healthcare Design Forum held at The Lodge at Spruce Peak in Stowe, Vt., Sept. 4-6, 2024.
Bringing together Healthcare Design’s Editorial Advisory Board, invited attendees, and sponsors, the annual event features keynote speakers, panel sessions, small group breakouts, and networking events.
The year’s event kicked off with a team-building activity which challenged teams to compete in Vermont-themed activities, including wood stacking, maple syrup tasting, and avalanche beacon search and knot tying.
Forum featured keynote speaker Heather Berlin
Featured keynote speaker Heather Berlin, a cognitive neuroscientist and host of PBS Nova’s “Your Brain,” opened the second day with a discussion on “The Human Brain and It’s Future: How to Make Your Brain More Creative, Productive, and Effective.” During her presentation, she told attendees that learning to let go of thinking about oneself and going with the flow can lead to creativity.
Noting that there’s still much to learn about the brain, she says that future focuses could look at how to use deep brain stimulation for cognitive enhancement. “As our understanding of the brain evolves, our ability to enhance it will, too.”
The day’s agenda also included a presentation of Healthcare Design’s 2024 A/E/C Survey by Brand Director Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, followed by a panel discussion with industry leaders, who provided content on the project trends as well as industry opportunities and challenges that the survey captures.
HCD Forum highlights
Additional highlights of the event included an owners’ panel discussion on managing fiscal responsibility, dinner at local Idletyme Brewing Company (with a visit from the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream truck for dessert), the annual HCD 10 awards dinners at Spruce Base Camp, sponsored by La-Z-Boy Healthcare / Knú, and an afterparty on the resort property.
A big thank you to the 2024 Forum sponsors, including Carolina, Kevin Berry Art Advisory, Kimball, Kwalu, La-Z-Boy Healthcare, Mannington Commercial, Shaw Contract, Tarkett, Whitehall Manufacturing, and Wolf Gordon.
Enjoy the slideshow above for scenes from the 2024 event. Find updates on the 2025 HCD Forum here.
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design. She can be reached at [email protected].
Invisible: 2024 Breaking Through Competition Finalist

2024 Breaking Through Conceptual Design Competition
The Breaking Through conceptual design competition was at the forefront of the 2024 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in Indianapolis. The competition, now in its fourth year, invites participants to forget what they’ve been told can’t be done and push away regulations, deadlines, codes, and budgets.
A total of 41 teams submitted initial ideas for jury review, resulting in four finalists—SmithGroup, HGA, Perkins&Will, and Gresham Smith. All competed for a $10,000 grand prize.
At the conference, each team had 10 minutes to present their concepts live, with attendees voting in real time to determine the winner.
Here, Healthcare Design presents the 2024 finalist—Gresham Smith’s Invisible.
Invisible: 2024 Breaking Through Finalist
Team: Gresham Smith
On-stage presenters: Leanna Albright, senior interior designer and associate; Chris Hoal, architect and healthcare market design leader; Maria Sanchez, interior designer and associate

Image credit: Gresham Smith
The premise: Sterile, isolating, and stressful hospital environments can cause discomfort in almost everyone. Furthermore, because today’s medical facilities must be designed adequately for everyone, they are designed perfectly for no one. However, evolving economics, modern lifestyles, and advancing technology means the future of healthcare will be unbound by location, cost, computing power, and data availability. Instead, the notion of “hospitals” will disappear, replaced by the idea that healthcare can become a lifestyle seamlessly woven into our daily experience.
The concept: Providing a roadmap for how healthcare, over time, will become fully decentralized and invisible, this concept features an array of experiences and vignettes in which care can be delivered in the future. Advances in the monitoring of personal health data paired with powerful predictive AI will lead to a revolution in preemptive healthcare. Biometric devices will track not just a person’s physical activity, but mental and nutritional activity as well. This comprehensive health data will be paired with pattern recognition AI to accurately pinpoint current and future risk factors for non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease.
The details: As technology gets cheaper and smaller over time, advanced diagnostics will be distributed widely. In the future, obsolete gas stations could be turned into health stations that are powered by AI to deliver primary care, diagnostics, and pharmacy services. Clarity Pods combine mental health infrastructure with a natural, healing environment. In the home, systems will be attuned to support health, whether by collecting additional health data, reinforcing healthy habits, customizing interior environments, or responding in an emergency. One idea is the use of interactive holograms in living areas to give occupants a chance to connect with their digital twin for a complete picture of their personal health.
For more on Healthcare Design’s 2024 Breaking Through competition, read here.
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design. She can be reached at [email protected].
The Respira Model: From Housing for Health: 2024 Breaking Through Competition Finalist
2024 Breaking Through Conceptual Design Competition
The 2024 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in Indianapolis featured the fourth Breaking Through conceptual design competition, encouraging teams to reimagine healthcare design without constraints like regulations, codes, or budgets.
Four finalists—SmithGroup, HGA, Perkins&Will, and Gresham Smith—competed for a $10,000 grand prize.
The competition began earlier this year with teams submitting innovative solutions to anticipated future healthcare challenges. From 13 semifinalists, chosen by a jury of industry experts, four advanced to the final round. At the conference, each team had 10 minutes to present their visionary concepts live, with attendees voting in real time to determine the winner.
Here, Healthcare Design presents the 2024 finalist—Perkins&Will’s The Respira Model.
The Respira Model: 2024 Breaking Through Finalist
Team: Perkins&Will
On-stage presenters: Edoardo Cerpelloni, associate; Robert Clemens, principal; Mariana Giraldo, associate; Dreama Lin, designer III; Anica Radu, designer III
Access to quality housing is a challenge for many residents, including urban dwellers, who may experience a lack of nearby services and resources such as fresh food, playgrounds, and reliable transportation access. As major cities across the U.S. continue to face housing shortages without a long-term solution that addresses the health conditions of the existing building stock, the Respira Model proposes going beyond the basic required repairs to individual units and offers a holistic approach to the well-being of these traditionally underserved communities.

Image credit: Perkins&Will
The concept: The Respira Model is a modular system that acts like new “lungs” for high-density housing.
Using prefabricated panels, the system can form a range of shapes and sizes to support any type of lifestyle programming, transforming underutilized residential areas such as building rooftops into spaces that offer community-focused health services and lifestyle amenities. One of the many shapes the modules can take is a greenhouse, focused on creating economic opportunities for the community through fresh, local, healthy food. Other ideas include a safe play space and a community hub with a library and tech room for residents.
The details: The system’s easily deployable panels are quickly constructed on site from modular systems and then joined seamlessly by connecting nodules. Each Respira panel features six main components to regulate air quality, generate solar power, maximize daylight, harvest rainwater, and provide an integrated infrastructure that supports better services throughout the buildings and in the new landscapes between them. For example, a translucent photovoltaic layer on the panel provides clean energy to the unit and controls the transmission of natural daylight into the spaces below.
For more on Healthcare Design’s 2024 Breaking Through competition, read here.
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design. She can be reached at [email protected].
What Healthcare Design Trends Stood Out In 2024?

To get a sense of how the healthcare design industry fared in 2024, Healthcare Design asked its Editorial Advisory Board members to share where they saw progress in 2024 and what surprised them the most about the sector this year.
In what area of the industry did you see the most progress this year?
“Sustainability in healthcare.”—Natalie Hagerty, senior director of facilities, planning, design, and integration, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
“New projects with fresh concepts that reimagine what mental and behavioral health environments can, and should, be. It is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach as we delve into the special design considerations for child, adolescent, adult, and geriatrics patients. It really is a bold new world for mental and behavioral health design!”—Margi Kaminski, principal, director health interiors, CannonDesign (Chicago)
“The health and wellness architecture/engineering/construction industry continues to collaborate to create solutions for clients. For many projects, clients assemble project teams of different firms to create the most appropriate solutions for their needs. This approach ensures a collaborative culture which is in the best interest of the client.”—Gary Vance, president, Vance Consulting (Indianapolis)
“Inclusion of behavioral health as a major component rather than an afterthought.” Jocelyn Frederick, HC Tangram Design (Cambridge, Mass.)
“Moving towards standardization to reduce design and construction costs,”—Julie Kent, director, planning, design and construction, Trinity Health (Livonia, Mich.)
“From a design and construction viewpoint, most progress was observed using prefabricated building components in our hospitals. From healthcare owners, I’ve seen more buy-in for design interventions that have a strong ROI for Evidence-Based Design benefits.”—Sam Burnette, principal, ESA (Nashville, Tenn.)
Good or bad, what surprised you the most about the healthcare design sector in 2024?
“The continued growth of outpatient and neighborhood centered care, also the adoption of several major healthcare systems into these healthcare delivery systems and how they are using small ways to impact and improve the health of their communities.”—Jeff Sudman, director of Dallas office/principal, E4H Architecture
“Bad: The unknown based on the incoming administration; future of tariffs on construction materials; future of vaccines, etc.”—Natalie Hagerty, senior director of facilities, planning, design, and integration, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
“The industry continues to surge forward with new opportunities and new projects against the headwinds of inflation, revenue challenges, workforce shortages, etc. The recovery of the industry post-COVID and its continued resiliency has been remarkable.”—Wayne Barger, vice president/director of health, SmithGroup (Dallas)
“Good: the continued awarding of mega-projects (we thought that would slow in 2024) and the slowing of the mid-level staff movement between firms. Bad: still harder to find qualified new talent to grow the firms.”— Scott Rawlings, global director of healthcare and leader of the regional healthcare practice, HOK (Washington, D.C.)
“How slow the industry is the change. It is a huge industry, and change can be difficult and scary, but it is very slow to change or adapt to new ideas.”—Chris Powers, associate principal, director of healthcare, Baker Barrios
“Greater emphasis on sustainability both from an energy and operations/staffing perspective.”—Jocelyn Frederick, HC Tangram Design (Cambridge, Mass.)
“The lack of knowledge of how technology and/or AI will impact the designs of our spaces. The design industry needs to help lead these efforts with the clinical experts in order to drive development and progress in this area (architects and designers are/should be innovators).”—Travis Tyson, director healthcare design studio, Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland)
“I was pleasantly surprised to see the continuation of design standards not being compromised, as a rule, despite the high rate of cost escalation. The overall scope was reduced in some cases, but not the quality of our building materials that must withstand harsh climates and wear & tear in HC settings.”—Sam Burnette, principal, ESA (Nashville, Tenn.)
Image credit: ottawawebdesign – stock.adobe.com
Oasis: 2024 Breaking Through Competition Finalist

2024 Breaking Through Conceptual Design Competition
The 2024 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in Indianapolis hosted Healthcare Design’s fourth Breaking Through conceptual design competition, charging teams to challenge the status quo in healthcare design without regulation, code, or budget constraints.
Four finalist teams representing SmithGroup, HGA, Perkins&Will, and Gresham Smith competed for the $10,000 grand prize.
The competition began earlier this year, with teams submitting concept statements addressing future healthcare challenges and innovative solutions.
From 13 semifinalists (meet the semifinalists here) selected by a jury of industry experts, the four finalists advanced to present live at the conference. Each team had 10 minutes to showcase their ideas, with attendees voting in real time to select the winner.
Prior to the finale, the teams first submitted concept statements that detailed a challenge they anticipated in the future delivery of healthcare and their proposed limit-pushing solution for it.
Here, Healthcare Design presents the 2024 finalist—HGA’s Oasis.
Oasis: 2024 Breaking Through Finalist
Team: HGA
On-stage presenters: Tanya Chadha, senior associate, senior medical planner; Bryce Hubertz, associate vice president, senior project designer; Jesse Robinson, associate vice president, senior medical planner
The premise: Across the globe, children are being exposed to growing crises, including armed conflicts, mass shootings, family displacement, and abuse. Childhood trauma can have a long-term effect on mental and physical health, especially among youth who are the most vulnerable. Early intervention, including therapies such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), help children heal through the brain’s neuroplasticity, which enables it to form new pathways throughout one’s life, helping to prevent negative outcomes in adulthood. Oasis aims to empower children to navigate their healing journey.

Image credit: HGA (AI generated image)
The concept: Building on the benefits of TF-CBT, Oasis creates an interactive environment in which neural pathways can be repaired and reworked. Using advanced technology, Oasis scans a user’s brain and reconstructs physical and projected spaces based on positive memories, such as a forest from a family trip or a holiday celebration, as well as adjusts scents, sounds, temperature, and textures to further enhance the experience. Children can use the setting for playing, relaxing, or engaging in therapy. The more time spent in Oasis, the more positive memories are reinforced, and neural pathways are repaired.
The details: The inflatable architecture reshapes itself to accommodate individuals or groups and can adapt to various locations, from residential settings to trauma situations like natural disasters or post-violence interventions. Additionally, Oasis can project an AI-generated therapist in a comforting form such as an animal or cartoon, to guide and monitor a child’s experience. The versatile healing tool is easy to set up and its adaptability to different locations means it can improve access to care, including in rural areas experiencing a shortage of facilities and care professionals.
For more on Healthcare Design’s 2024 Breaking Through competition, read here.
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design. She can be reached at [email protected].
Q+A With DAISY Award Nurse Leader In Healthcare Design Abbie Ochsner

This fall, the Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design (NIHD) and The DAISY Foundation awarded its inaugural DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurse Leader in Healthcare Design to Nurse Abbie Ochsner, director of oncology infusion services at St. Elizabeth Healthcare (Edgewood, Ky.).
The foundation’s annual DAISY Award is given to extraordinary nurses for the compassionate contributions they make every day. For 2024, NIHD worked with The DAISY Foundation to develop criteria for the first DAISY Award recognizing nursing professionals in healthcare design.
In her nomination, Ochsner was lauded for her role in conducting a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of a new infusion center that opened on St. Elizabeth’s campus in 2020. Ochsner collaborated with the research and design team and was a key person in coordinating data collection including staff and patient surveys and staff and medication shadowing.
Ochsner received the DAISY award during a presentation at the 2024 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in Indianapolis, Oct. 5-8 (for more on the award, read here).
In this Q+A with Healthcare Design magazine, Ochsner talks about her career path, participating in the POE process, and the importance of gathering input from nursing professionals to better understand facility operations and design.
Healthcare Design: What drew you to a career in nursing?
My journey into nursing was deeply personal, but it also stems from a lifelong interest in science and a passion for helping others. When I discovered nursing, it felt like the perfect blend of both of these loves.
Growing up, two of my favorite adults were nurses, and their dedication and compassion inspired me. During a clinical rotation on our inpatient oncology floor, I realized this was the path I wanted to pursue.
It all came full circle when my mom was diagnosed with cancer; I knew I wouldn’t have wanted any other nurses or doctors to be her care team than the excellent ones I worked with, many of whom still work alongside me today.
My goal is to be there for patients during their darkest days, providing a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, and an advocate for their needs—while also giving them reasons to smile amid their struggles. Now, I strive to pass on those same values to our team, fostering a culture of compassion and support.
What do you like best about your job?
The opportunity to shape the future of oncology and infusion services. I love the interdisciplinary collaboration we have at St. Elizabeth, which allows us to build innovative programs, such as the Cellular Therapy Program. This program enables our community healthcare organization to treat patients within our system using bispecific T-cell engagers, which is a significant advancement in cancer treatment.
Being part of a team that works together to enhance patient care is incredibly rewarding.
What challenges about your work keep you up at night?
The ones that keep me up at night are primarily centered around patient experiences and the evolving stressors in healthcare.
Issues like insurance complexities and drug shortages not only affect our ability to provide optimal care but also impact patients’ well-being and peace of mind. I’m constantly looking for ways to navigate these challenges to ensure that our patients receive the best possible care.
How did you get involved in the POE for St. Elizabeth’s new infusion center?
HGA, the architectural firm working on the project, had an inquisitive researcher, Mahshid Jalalian, who reached out to me about conducting a post-occupancy study after a pre-occupancy assessment.
Having worked in the original cancer care center at St. Elizabeth, I had valuable insights about the layout of the old infusion center, which made my participation in the post-occupancy study even more meaningful and enjoyable. I was eager to contribute, as it presented a unique opportunity to gather insights that could benefit both our facility and the broader healthcare design community.
What about this process stood out to you the most?
The researcher’s comprehensive approach to data collection, in which every aspect of the study was meticulously planned and evaluated. From shadowing time studies to patient and associate surveys, the thoroughness was impressive.
The insights we gathered are not only valuable for our infusion center but also contribute to the broader field of healthcare design. I’m proud to share that the results of this study were disseminated at the 2023 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo and have just been accepted for publication, allowing our work to be shared so others can learn from our findings and improve future healthcare designs.
How did you use the findings to further improve the patient experience?
The results of the post-occupancy findings demonstrated better efficiencies when compared to the previous St. Elizabeth infusion centers.
One key recommendation was to add more lighting to the interior hallways and improve wayfinding. Additionally, we encouraged staff to walk patients to the hallway to better direct them to the lobby, ensuring they felt supported and guided during their visits.
These changes not only enhance functionality but also help create a more welcoming environment for our patients.
Why do you think it’s important to conduct research on healthcare environments?
Just like it’s crucial to conduct research to determine evidence-based practices in nursing, establishing evidence-based design in healthcare environments is equally important.
Research helps us understand how the physical space affects patient outcomes, comfort, and overall experience. By prioritizing evidence-based design, we can create environments that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional and conducive to healing.
How can nursing professionals help design teams better understand facility operations and design?
I believe it’s vital to have nurses involved from the very beginning of the design process. Nurses bring a wealth of ideas and a unique perspective based on their direct interactions with patients and the healthcare environment.
Organizations including the Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design and its passionate members are dedicated to engaging the voice of the nurse throughout the design process. Their insights can bridge the gap between clinical needs and design solutions, ensuring that the facilities we create truly meet the needs of patients and staff alike.
By acting as advocates for patient care, nurses can help push the healthcare design industry forward in meaningful ways.
What does receiving the DAISY Award mean to you?
Receiving the DAISY Award is a deeply humbling and honoring experience for me. In a previous role at St. Elizabeth, I had the pleasure of being on the DAISY selection committee, where I celebrated the accomplishments of my fellow nurses as they received their awards.
Now, to be recognized as a recipient of a DAISY Award myself feels surreal, as I was simply doing my job and striving to make a positive impact in my role. It reinforces the importance of compassionate care and innovative practices in nursing.
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design. She can be reached at [email protected].
Healthcare Design Honors 2024 Remodel/Renovation Competition Winners
2024 Healthcare Design Remodel/Renovation Competition
It takes vision and hard work to reimagine what a space can become. Healthcare Design‘s annual Renovation and Remodel Competition celebrates remarkable transformations that turned outdated or worn areas into stunning, revitalized environments.
Now in its 15th year, the 2024 competition, sponsored by La-Z-Boy Healthcare / Knú, accepted submissions for projects in any single healthcare space, with efforts representing a range of environments, including lobbies, food halls, specialty care units, staff spaces, and emergency departments.
Profiles of the 2024 Remodel/Renovation Award Winners
The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Award Winners were recently celebrated at the 2024 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in Indianapolis. Click the links below to read profiles of the winning projects, including before-and-after photos and jury comments on what stood out most on these renovations:
Gold Winner: Bethesda North Hospital Cardiac Catheterization Prep And Recovery, Cincinnati, submitted by GBBN (Cincinnati)
Silver Winner: Stamford Health, Whittingham Pavilion Cohen NICU & Maternity Unit, Stamford, Conn., submitted by CannonDesign (Boston)
Bronze Winner: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, Eating Disorders Unit, submitted by NK Architects P.A. (Morristown, N.J.)
Keep up to date on the 2025 Remodel/Renovation Competition here.
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design. She can be reached at [email protected].
How Modular Construction Can Answer The Call For Future-proofing Healthcare Environments

In today’s healthcare world, hospital infrastructure is being outpaced by the fast evolution of technology in medical equipment and devices. Depending on technological advances, equipment and solutions may be updated every 5 to 10 years while the concrete and gypsum infrastructure of medical and procedure rooms gets old and outdated.
The constant pressure to maintain high level patient care and generate revenue can also create a barrier to technological innovation in hospitals. The fear of disrupting operations often outweighs the potential benefits of upgrading equipment and software, which can lead to a lag in adopting the latest advancements.
Together, these challenges are pushing the healthcare design industry to consider new construction methods and building systems. Modularity in hospital construction projects, especially in the most critical areas of the hospital, provides a flexible infrastructure that allows healthcare facilities to adapt to the ever-changing demands of technological advances while helping ensure clinical care and quality.
Benefits of modular systems in healthcare
Traditional healthcare construction can be inflexible, and any work that requires cutting through dry wall or lead lining necessitates the temporary shutting down of an OR. Once a renovation starts, the process must be done completely before the room can be brought back online.
Modular construction provides a flexible and adaptable system that can be faster to install and simple to modify, with access to services behind walls and ceiling, which can minimize shut-down time. Modular components can also be designed to meet the specific needs of the operating room, including size, shape and color, and are applicable in a range of spaces, including intensive care units, patient rooms, sterilization departments, and operating and control rooms.
Operamed modular walls and ceilings
Modular construction methods provide a flexible and scalable framework for integrating new equipment and systems. For example, with Operamed’s modular walls and ceilings, all the hospital services are integrated into the structure and panel system, providing the ability to change or add new services in the future with minimal interruption to clinical spaces.
Framing and rough-in can be done in a short timeframe with the prefabricated stud system and MEP rough-in kits, reducing overall construction timelines. Wall panels and ceilings are then installed, and the panels are prefabricated to the final design with all cutouts and accessories custom made to each project.
Upgrades and necessary work behind the wall and above ceiling can be performed on nights and weekends without the need to shut down the OR space for long periods of time. Once the new equipment, including robotics, cameras, and technological devices, is ready to be brought in, installation can be done quickly, and the room can go live with minimal shutdown time.
The system comes in a variety of wall finishes made of antimicrobial materials, including antistatic powder-coated stainless steel, solid surfaces, glass, and painted galvanized steel. Other options include integrated in-wall services and devices, such as flush finished windows, in-wall flat panels, and integrated cabinets.
Solutions such as modular systems can maximize uptime and minimize downtime in critical, revenue-generating areas, while expediting the adoption of critical technology.