The Healing Power of Healthcare Design

• Fan design and selection
• Larger ducts
• Discharge rates for air volumes
• Vibration isolators
• Film and metal no-fill silencers to attenuate duct noise

• Paging systems. Nurse call and patient telemetry systems can reduce the need to broadcast pages and alarms throughout patient care areas.
• Clinical alarms. Wireless communication devices for staff and future "smart" algorithms for patient-specific alarm thresholds can help reduce the number of alarms and alarm noise levels.

An acoustics study at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., found that when the privacy curtain was opened and closed, a traditional track and carrier produced 50% more instantaneous noise during the test.

A new style of bendable track and matching carrier produced 75% less sound than the original grooved track previously installed.

It's no secret that the healthcare market is as competitive as any other business. The ability to attract patients is paramount to maintaining and building revenue streams, especially for major medical centers.

While much of the marketing is centered on medical expertise, top-rated diagnostics, and the care the patient receives, the overall condition of the facility plays a role in the attractiveness of the hospital.

We know from the patient satisfaction surveys that thoughtfully curated imagery, be it in art, signage and environmental graphics can improve one's hospital stay….by connecting with the community and engaging in a visual conversation, improving wayfinding, creating a positive experience. As designers we employ imagery almost automatically. But there is research that supports the healing effects of art as well.

The main point here is that décor and ambiance of the facility plays a role in the overall experience, artwork being one key factor of the interior's attractiveness.

In a blog for the Huffington Post, Brooke Seidelman wrote on evidence-based design and the impact of art in healing:

In 1984, a landmark paper by Dr. Roger Ulrich helped establish the field of Evidence-Based Design through a study in which he found that patients who had hospital rooms with a window required less pain medication and recovered at faster rates than patients in rooms without windows. Since that publication, the field of Evidence-Based Design has expanded and numerous studies have shown that artwork in patient rooms offer comparable benefits – promoting healing, relieving patients' pain and stress, and increasing their overall well-being.

The Cleveland Clinic, one of the nation's largest and most reputable hospitals, has had an art tradition since its inception in the 1920s. Its collection now numbers about 6,800 works, not including its 15,000 art posters and it established an in-house art program in 2006. Two years later, it formed the Arts and Medicine Institute.

The world-class Cleveland Clinic surveys 826 patients as to art's general impact on patient experience.

• More than 60% of patients reported stress reduction when they viewed art found in the hospital's contemporary collection.
• 73% said the artwork somewhat or significantly improved their mood.
• 77 percent described Cleveland Clinic's environment as "inviting/welcoming."

The FGI Guidelines recommends that artwork can help provide a positive distraction for residents.

Certain themes for artwork have been suggested:

• Waterscapes, containing calm or non-turbulent water.
• Landscapes, containing visual depth or open foreground, trees with broad canopy, savannah landscapes, verdant vegetation.
• Positive cultural artifacts (e.g. barns and older houses).
• Flowers, which are healthy and fresh, familiar, in gardens with open foreground.
• Figurative, with emotionally positive faces, diverse and leisurely.

In both skilled nursing and memory care settings, art can be used in a therapeutic way to evoke memories And emotions, inspire social engagement, and can be an aid in wayfinding.

Positive distraction is a term used to describe the belief that environmental features can elicit positive feelings, hold attention and interest and, therefore, reduce stressful thoughts. This idea has been developed by Malenbaum and colleagues in a review for the International Association for the Study of Pain. These authors regard a typical treatment setting as one that lacks any positive distraction and argue that environmental stimuli, including visual art, may enhance patient control.

Although there have not been many studies using nature images with pediatric populations, a preference study of 5- to 17-year-olds, Eisen (2006) showed that children in hospital settings prefer representational nature art over abstract art. In fact, contrary to the common assumption that children like only large cartoon-like or fantasy images, a study with 5- to 17-year-old patients at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, showed that children rate nature images with bright colors, water features, and nonthreatening wildlife quite highly–often higher than typical child art (Nanda, Chanaud, Brown, Hart, & Hathorn, 2009).

The presence of a strong context that children could associate with was a defining feature of preferred images. Content drove preference more than style, though color was a key determinant.

All of that to further support the idea that young children especially are very impressionable, and they remember emotions of a given experience for years to come. If we, as designers can lessen the hospital stay stress and anxiety by incorporating colorful, nature-inspired art, we can play a part in their healing process.

Behavioral health is a major area of focus for both practitioners and designers. Nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (51.5 million in 2019). More disturbingly, one in six U.S. children between the ages of 6 and 17 has a treatable mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety problems or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A lot of people out there need mental health support and the design community is here to improve their environmental experience when they visit a clinic or a hospital in order to get better.

Many aspects of design can help all occupants–daylight, connections to nature, lighting for circadian rhythm, good acoustics–are especially impactful for behavioral health patients. Connection to nature can be achieves by accessing the outdoors, courtyards, gardens, window view or artwork depicting scenes that are familiar, calming, optimistic.

There is an increasing amount of scientific evidence that proves art enhances brain function. It has an impact on brain wave patterns and emotions, the nervous system, and can actually raise serotonin levels. Art can change a person's outlook and the way they experience the world.

Art therapy can be used as a complement to traditional mental health treatment. The aim is to manage behaviors, process feelings, reduce stress and anxiety, and increase self-esteem. Self-discovery: Creating art can help you acknowledge and recognize feelings that have been lurking in your subconscious.

There has been much philosophical and anecdotal discussion about the benefits of art and healing, but less empirical research exists in the literature.

Now, we also know that visitors and patients within a healthcare space are often times burdened emotionally and stressed due to circumstances of their visit. Therefore any information that's confusing or competing for attention isn't helpful.

A wayfinding system that helps patients, families, visitors and staff find their way around a healthcare space is critical. Artwork can play a very successful role in such a solution next to signage and finishes.

Broadly, urban design and planner Kevin Lynch (Lynch 1960) suggests a "good environmental image gives its processor an important sense of emotional security". Thus, wayfinding supports users and contributes to feelings of ease within an environment (Gibson, 2009). David Gibson wrote extensively on the topic in his book, "The Wayfinding Handbook".

Now, we also know that visitors and patients within a healthcare space are often times burdened emotionally and stressed due to circumstances of their visit. Therefore any information that's confusing or competing for attention isn't helpful.