Healthcare

The Facilities Guidelines Institute has released an important new whitepaper, “Design of Behavioral Health Crisis Units,” available at https://fgiguidelines.org/resource/design-of-behavioral-health-crisis-units/.   As the website at which the whitepaper is provided explains, “This white paper supports the minimum requirements for behavioral health crisis units included in the 2022 Hospital and Outpatient Guidelines documents.

Anyone who is familiar with Ulrich’s work in the 1980’s won’t be surprised by a study presented at the 2022 Scientific Forum of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress.

Sadek and Willis investigated how the design of oncology centers influences patient experiences by interviewing patients and former patients.  During the course of their research they “examine[d] key aspects of built environment that shape the experience of patients undergoing intravenous anti-cancer treatment within outpatient settings. . . . four themes highlighting the main contributions of contemporary healthcare design to patients’ experiences were synthesized.

The Center for Health Design is making an interactive diagram available that can be used to develop behavioral and mental health environments.  It is available free of charge at https://www.healthdesign.org/tools/interactive-design-diagrams/inpatient-rooms/behavioral-mental-health-room  As the linked to website indicates, “Two goals are often at the center of current care models for behavioral and mental health: safety and healing.

Grant and colleagues investigated falls in care homes by elderly (mean age 81 +/- 12 years old) residents.  They report that some test locations “had solid-state lighting installed throughout the facility that changed in intensity and spectrum to increase short-wavelength (blue light) exposure during the day (6 am–6 pm) and decrease it overnight (6 pm–6 am). The control sites retained standard lighting with no change in intensity or spectrum throughout the day. The number of falls aggregated from medical records were assessed over an approximately 24-month interval. . .