You might think higher quality healthcare is dependent upon better doctors, nurses, treatments and pharmaceuticals. And you would almost be right. In fact, healthcare environments can do plenty to contribute or sabotage the level of care.

Nurture, a Steelcase company dedicated to healthcare recently concluded a study of acute care units. Inside hospitals they found staffs are struggling to cope with technology, new treatments, increasing workloads and the physical and emotional stress built in to every shift.

Electronic medical records add to efficiency but the need for face-to-face communication is higher than ever. Yet, sharing of information must satisfy both centralized and decentralized methods of care. Is there an environment that can be designed to meet all these complex needs? Nurture says, “Yes.”  The need to collaborate, communicate instantly and learn continuously means technology must be both fixed and mobile without overwhelming the environment.

Quality care doesn’t stop with care and healing of the patients. Delivering quality care is often linked with best practices of caregiver workflow.

Here are 6 design principles developed by the Nurture team:

• Offer comfort for the patient, family and staff while supporting clinical care. New environments minimize patient fear, accommodate families and maximize caregiver task support.
• Design spaces to evolve. Built in flexibility is a lasting advantage in the ever changing world of medicine.
• Provide for connections, closeness and capacity. Facilities and furnishings should support people and data.
• Plan for ubiquitous learning. Allow for people to gather and learn wherever they are.
• Prevent technology from overwhelming the environment. Integrate medical technology and allow for its evolution while considering the people that use it.
• Design for intuitive behaviors. Everything repetitive should be obvious. Design for routine.

Thought-starter concepts toward better care experiences are available in our showroom and supporting literature.