Evidence Based Environmental Design for Improving Medical Outcomes

Healthcare facility design traditionally has emphasized concerns such as functional efficiency, costs, and providing effective platforms for medical treatments and technology. A consequence of this perspective has been that psychological and social needs of patients have been largely disregarded in the design of healthcare facilities – and often marginalized in creating visitor and staff spaces. In spite of traumatizing hospital experiences and major stress from illness, little priority has been given to creating surroundings that calm patients, or help to strengthen coping resources and healthful processes. Rather, the functional emphasis often produced environments now considered starkly institutional, stressful, and detrimental to care quality.