Designing for health in health care Environments
I have never thought about health environments until recently. I have been to quite a few different hospitals in Hong Kong, depending on the ownership of the hospitals (private or government), their interior environments can be quite different. I recently went on a field trip to the Emory University hospital; it was very interesting to see the differences in the hospitals environment of different culture. We were only allowed to tour the ground level of the hospital, therefore our observation was limited. However, there were many elements of the interior that caught my attention, such as the scale of the lobby, amount of natural light, integrating of animals and ease of way finding. Some of those elements are very similar to the hospitals in Hong Kong but some I have never seen before.
Recently, the main lobby of the Emory hospital had been renovated. Although the differences in scale, it actually reminded me of a private hospital in Hong Kong. The lobby was designed in similar fashion of the hotel lobbies, the environment feels very comfortable with the reception desk very visible and a lot of sitting arrangements located throughout. As hospitals generally give out a negative feeling, I think it is essential to create the interior environment as relaxing and as comfortable as possible to help ease that negative feeling amongst the patients. In addition to create a comfortable space, the architects incorporated a lot of natural light and natural elements into the interior, further enhancing the level of comfort. Natural light were able to fill the interior through the curtain walls and the skylight. Trees, plants and water features were located in visible areas, generating a natural feeling to the atmosphere.
The other thing I have also noticed, was that the distant smell of hospital wasn’t present at the touring areas. I feel that, to create a comfortable health care environment, removing that smell is just as important as bring natural elements into the interior. Having that hospital smell would create a negative psychological effect on the occupants and in turn reducing their well being.
The biggest difference of the hospitals from Hong Kong and this hospital was the availability of nature. In the Emory Hospital, connections with nature were located throughout the ground floor. People could go outside and sit in the healing garden or the water pond. Furthermore, they could watch the birds flying around in the two display rooms along the corridor. As suggested by the Gifford book (p.xxx), a patient with a view to nature recovers faster than the ones without. Therefore, having nature in the health environment are essential in the healing and restoring process of the patients.
Way Finding is also a very important elements in health care environments. In many hospitals, the ease of way finding is very poor. I remember a hospital in Hong Kong used stickers along the floor to indicate different directions to different departments. From time to time, those stickers would come off and people would be lost and navigation becomes difficult. In the Emory Hospital, the signs or directories are located throughout. Although the font were not very big, but they were still quite clear as the text were contrasted to a white background. Directories were placed at visible areas along the walls, hanged from the ceiling or placed in common areas in forms of stands.
From the lecture, it was interesting to know that doctors and nurses were trained to perform with the head boards on their left hand side. Studies have shown, medical errors would reduce having the head boards on the left side of the medical staff. For that result, when designing health care units, designers should keep that in mind.
Reference –
http://www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=9B6FFC446FF7486981EA3C0C3CCE4943&nm=Articles&type=Publishing&mod=Publications::Article&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=58A9E934CD6248828966D832792764F8
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