Hospitals and health systems in the U.S. are increasingly examining the design and aesthetic of their facility to appeal to patients and potentially shorten inpatient stays, according to a CNN report.
The approach, known as evidence-based design, compels architectural designers and hospital officials to contemplate "the tiniest of details," like minimizing the distance between the nurses' station and patient rooms, perfecting acoustics and selecting hardware to improve infection control, according to the report.
Mehrdad Yazdani, who is director of the architecture firm Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign, used the approach to design sculptural walls to house medical equipment behind patients' beds at the Jacobs Medical Center at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla, Calif.
"You see [headwalls] in most hospitals. But while they're very needed, they're not necessarily aesthetically pleasing and are, if anything, intimidating to patients and their families." Mr. Yazdani told CNN. "[My design] has panels that are removable, so they don't only conceal a lot of that technology, making it less intimidating, but … also give the hospital flexibility as technology changes and the needs are different."
Some hospitals are turning to evidence-based design to create a calming environment, which research suggests may shorten a patient's stay at the facility, according to the report.
In his design of the Anaheim, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente Radiation Oncology Center, Mr. Yazdani installed zen gardens and facing the treatment rooms. He said he hopes hospital officials analyze the lengths of patients' stays at the facility after a few years to determine if the building's planning and design helped speed up some patients' recovery, according to the report.
However, one of the biggest challenges of incorporating such design elements is overcoming hospital officials' reluctance to deviate from previous building designs.
"As a designer who approaches things from a humanistic and contextual perspective, the challenge I always encounter comes from a [facility's] perspective — the old-school mentality of 'I've done this before [and] I want to do it again the same way,'" said Pat Bosch, design director of architecture firm Perkins+Will Global's Miami offices. The firm has worked on design aspects for numerous healthcare facilities, including Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center and Baltimore-based The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story misstated that Mr. Yazdani owns Yazdani Studio. He serves as director of the firm.