Online Exclusives Visit http://healthcaredesi.wpengine.com to read these Web-only stories! A List for a healthier future In a world where user-generated content and online Wikis are the norm, architect design firm Perkins+Will is making an attempt to make...
As the calendar turns and the year (and the decade!) changes again, many of us resort to the time-honored tradition of making New Year's resolutions. Of course, if you're like me, these resolutions usually make it about a month or so before they're forgotten about...
The last few years have set the stage for enormous change. As the economy stabilizes in this new decade the beat of daily life will find a new rhythm. What will your rhythm be? Will you come out of this a changed person or will you become an agent for change? At the...
An ambulance pulls up to the emergency room with a critically ill child. Paramedics rush the patient inside while two parents follow behind. One parent stays in with their child, while the other heads in an entirely different direction to complete hospital...
In many respects, sustainable design and the creation of healthy healing environments should not be seen as a new phenomenon. Its origins date back more than a millennium and can be found in the imperative set forth in the Hippocratic oath calling on physicians to “first, do no harm.” Creating environments that promote healing complements the development and practice of treatments that heal. Yet hospitals historically have not been among the healthiest environments.
Opened in late November 2009, the new $268 million, 585,000-square-foot, seven-story Western Maryland Regional Medical Center located in Cumberland, Maryland, replaced and consolidates two aging hospitals and provides the local community with a level of care that...
The past 25 years have seen extraordinary changes in patient room design. In the recent past, patient rooms were viewed as dormitories with multiple beds and strangers sharing the same space—and possibly infections. Little care was given to aesthetics, patient privacy...
I spent a half an hour in the shower with a hospital CEO recently. No, it wasn't some kind of illicit rendezvous. This hospital administrator was sincere in his desire to go through all aspects of the patient experience—including the patient bathrooms being designed for his new patient care tower—before he approved the mock-up. He talked about how getting up and taking a shower was such a milestone in the recovery of many patients and how it gave them a psychological boost.
As the old saying goes “It always happens to the best people.” This is something I believe that everyone that has a loved one in the hospital says. We all want the best care for our loved ones and to know that they feel like they are at home when they are in the...
For the last 10 summers, people in the Appalachian mountain region of Southwest Virginia have traveled great distances to seek dental care.
To meet a growing need for care in the area, Wise County conducted a legislatively mandated feasibility study. The study led to the 2008 General Assembly funding for construction of the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Dental Clinic.
When designing a hospital, how much time is spent addressing the risk of a pandemic and a hospital’s ability to treat it? 17.14% - A significant amount of time, this is a serious issue 40.00% - It is always a primary concern but doesn’t require significant time 31.43%...
