Anne DiNardo

The 94,000-square-foot Stonebridge at Burlington opened in April and is the largest of The Northbridge Companies’ (Burlington, Mass.) assisted-living facilities. Designed by The Architectural Team Inc. (Chelsea, Mass.), the 110-living-unit community accommodates a spectrum of physical and mental levels of independence and acuity.

When news about rising obesity rates in the U.S. first started making headlines, many in the design field agree healthcare facilities weren’t quite prepared to deal with this emerging population group. For instance, existing hand rails and toilets weren’t designed to support obese patients or visitors, procedures weren’t in place to help caregivers safely deliver treatment, and accommodations fell short of making all patients feel comfortable within the hospital setting.

In this series, Healthcare Design magazine asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what’s got their attention and share some ideas on the subject.

Here, Mike Zambo, principal for healthcare design at Bostwick Design Partnership, collaborated with colleagues Robert Bostwick, Matt Bode, Judy McGlinchy, and Mala Yin to offer some perspective on bariatric design standards, patient rooms, and the importance of validation for evidence-based design.

Pregnant women are given an abundance of advice from family members and strangers alike on things they should do before their little bundle of joy arrives, ranging from “go to the movies” and “eat at non kid-friendly restaurants while you still can” to “catch up on sleep now.”

There’s been a lot of attention in the media this week relating to National Nurses Week. The event, which kicks off each year on May 6th and ends on May 12th, Florence Nightingale's birthday, is focusing on the theme “Nurses – Delivering Quality & Innovation in Patient Care.”

Behavioral health centers have come a long way from the days when security and durability governed their design. A lot of those changes come from better design principles in general, such as improved access to natural light, amenities that empower and stimulate patients, and facilities that promote independence and healing. “Everything that we’ve learned about how design can influence physical health, we need to be applying to mental health, because in the end, it has the same effect,” says Don Thomas, a principal at St.

University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital opened the doors to a relocated and renovated behavioral health unit in Minneapolis, in November 2012. The design team at BWBR worked with the staff at Amplatz to create a space that better aligned with the newly constructed main hospital.

In a recent article in The New York Times by Benedict Carey, “Expert on Mental Illness Reveals Her Own Fight,”  Dr. Marsha M. Linehan of the University of Washington, talks about the first time she was admitted to the Institute of Living, in 1961, at the age of 17. The article describes how the suicidal teenager was put in the seclusion room, “a small cell with a bed, a chair and a tiny, barred window. Yet her urge to die only deepened.”

Anyone who’s been through the construction process has heard the words “moisture mitigation.” While it’s not new, concern over the issue has grown over the last 10 years.

One reason is condensed construction timelines, which mean most projects are fast-tracked, leaving less time for concrete slabs to dry. This leaves slab moisture levels (relative humidity or RH levels) at unsuitable levels for flooring installations to perform. However, these levels must be met in order to maintain a manufacturer’s warranty.

As hospitals, ambulatory care centers, and specialty clinics continue to transition to more hospitality-like settings, the flooring specified for those facilities is going in a new direction, too. Issues about cost, infection control, and maintenance are still top-of-mind, but joining the discussion is an emphasis on aesthetics, comfort, and the role of flooring in wayfinding.