Evidence Based Design Does Better Health Result From Better Design? The Evidence - Yes! By Timothy J. Frank, AIA, NCARB We all rely on our physicians to recommend procedures or prescribe medications. We have a level of trust knowing that there is an enormous amount of research and evidence behind the recommendation that certain procedures make us well and certain medicines are safe and effective. Physicians provide their patients with the best possible care by employing what is known as evidence-based medicine - a hard, cold, empirical look at what works, what doesn't and how to distinguish between the two. Just as physicians practice medicine based on evidence of effective treatment, we have come to recognize the impact of healthcare facility design on the quality of care and the outcomes that result. The study of this impact and how it influences healthcare design has come to be known as evidence-based design. Evidence-based design is a research-focused process that is based on testing how the design can affect the goals of achieving a healing, therapeutic, supportive, and efficient environment. These goals include: Reducing a patient's length of stay Enhancing patient safety by reducing infection, risk, injuries from falls, and medical errors Improving patient and staff satisfaction Reducing environmental stressors, such as noise, that negatively affect outcomes and staff performance Promoting healing by making hospitals All of these goals address improving the quality of providing healthcare services through design. Design ideas that have been documented to achieve increased quality include: Improving privacy with single-bed rooms Personal control of lighting and temperature Reducing noise with better acoustics, sound-absorbing surfaces, and limited overhead paging Fostering more personal communication between staff, patients, and families Dedicating space and amenities for family and social support Using soothing colors, soft lighting, inspiring artwork, and non-institutional design elements Providing access to nature with expansive views to healing gardens and natural light Incorporating clear wayfinding Beyond better healing, evidence-based design also makes compelling economic sense by: Improving organizational performance Lowering staff turnover Reducing the cost of care Increasing market share and financial performance Evidence-based design means not using a cookbook approach to building design. Each healthcare client and each project are designed with specific requirements and constraints. Each requires a tailored approach. Each project has the opportunity - and challenge - to use and develop research and evidence to design better, more effective facilities. Design decisions are huge investments. Important decisions made on the basis of untested propositions and hunches are risky at best and are very expensive to correct. Healthcare architects who employ evidence-based design are able to provide their clients with the best available information to make wise use of limited healthcare resources. The healthcare architects of ARTEKNA would be pleased to discuss putting evidence-based design into action with you. More information on evidence-based design can be found at: The Center for Health Design InformeDesign Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Planetree