New insights recently released from Steelcase Health underscore the importance of family participation during a patient’s hospital stay and highlight how patient room design can impact family experiences and influence patient satisfaction and outcomes. The company’s findings also reveal that, in most current patient room settings, many family members still have significant unmet needs.
Well-designed healthcare environments can be a powerful tool in supporting a family’s ability to meaningfully engage in their loved one’s care, but many hospitals have yet to fully harness their spaces to maximize this engagement,” says Michelle Ossmann, MSN, PhD, Director of Healthcare Environments at Steelcase Health.
Healthcare environments are often not designed to support the roles that family members play in a patient’s journey. Steelcase Health researchers identified five key issues that can affect family wellbeing and engagement in a patient room:
- Family members can be unintentionally blocked from critical communications.
- Difficult sleeping conditions.
- No place to share a meal.
- Uncomfortable hospitality environment
- Nowhere to plug in
The company’s findings show that family members need intuitive, welcoming and hosted environments that both support fundamental needs, such as sleeping, sharing meals and working, and assists them in productively partnering with clinicians to meet their loved one’s healthcare needs.
The findings from Steelcase Health bolster research on current healthcare trends such as patient and provider satisfaction as quality indicators, the focus on patient-and-family-centered-care, and the adoption of patient and family advisory boards and councils at hospitals and health systems.
For more information on the unmet needs of patient families, click here.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Best AEC Firms of 2011/12
Later this year, we will launch Best AEC Firms 2012. We’re looking for firms that create truly positive workplaces for their AEC professionals and support staff. Keep an eye on this page for entry information. +
| Aug 11, 2010
Report: Building codes and regulations impede progress toward uber-green buildings
The enthusiasm for super green Living Buildings continues unabated, but a key stumbling block to the growth of this highest level of green building performance is an existing set of codes and regulations. A new report by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council entitled "Code, Regulatory and Systemic Barriers Affecting Living Building Projects" presents a case for fundamental reassessment of building codes.
| Aug 11, 2010
Call for entries: Building enclosure design awards
The Boston Society of Architects and the Boston chapter of the Building Enclosure Council (BEC-Boston) have announced a High Performance Building award that will assess building enclosure innovation through the demonstrated design, construction, and operation of the building enclosure.
| Aug 11, 2010
Portland Cement Association offers blast resistant design guide for reinforced concrete structures
Developed for designers and engineers, "Blast Resistant Design Guide for Reinforced Concrete Structures" provides a practical treatment of the design of cast-in-place reinforced concrete structures to resist the effects of blast loads. It explains the principles of blast-resistant design, and how to determine the kind and degree of resistance a structure needs as well as how to specify the required materials and details.
| Aug 11, 2010
ACSA announces 2008-2009 ACSA/AISC steel design student competition winners
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is pleased to announce the winners of the ninth annual steel design student competition for the 2008-2009 academic year. Administered by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the program challenged students, working individually or in teams, to explore a variety of design issues related to the use of steel in design and construction.
| Aug 11, 2010
ZweigWhite Announces 2009 Best Firms to Work For
Management consulting and research firm ZweigWhite has identified the best civil engineering, structural engineering, multidiscipline A/E services, environmental services, and architecture firms to work for in its annual ranking of top industry firms. These outstanding employers were selected based on their commitment to provide a positive work environment and challenging and interesting work opportunities for their employees.