Healthcare Design - April 2017 - 9

EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Hank Adams

SPREAD THE WORD

What you do as an industry is critically important,
but to some, the results remain invisible
By Jennifer Kovacs Silvis
AN URGENT, BUT thankfully treatable, condition

landed my dad in the hospital a couple of years
ago. As I pulled into the parking lot to visit him, it
occurred to me that it had been some time since
I'd last stepped through that front door-long
before I had this job or covered facility design.
I was curious to see how my perception may
have shifted with this inside knowledge. I looked
around. Was there natural light, decent acoustics, patient privacy? The short answer: not really. Most alarming was the unease I felt as my
family members and I crammed ourselves into his half of a double room and
attempted conversation at a level that wouldn't disturb his roommate, all
while pretending not to overhear caregivers on the other side of the curtain.
It was a valuable reminder that the projects Healthcare Design features
each issue are still, quite often, the exception to the rule of our country's aging infrastructure.
A couple of weeks ago I got another reminder, but this one hit me a little
harder. It was a recent op-ed piece in The New York Times by Dr. Dhruv
Khullar, a resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. "As a doctor, I'm struck daily by how much better hospitals could be designed," he writes in "Bad Hospital Design Is Making Us
Sicker." Khullar notes that despite hospitals' hefty price tags and inherent
complexities, evidence suggests they've been built all wrong-and to the
detriment of those inside.
He goes on to detail research findings that indicate private patient rooms
can combat healthcare-associated infection risk, that decentralized nurses' stations can help reduce falls, that sound-absorbing materials can improve sleep. He even calls upon Roger Ulrich's seminal "room with a view"
research. The kicker? All of these mentions are couched as new insights.
While Khullar made it to the research, he seemingly missed that there's
a huge industry that already knows these things. What he describes is the
baseline of any new hospital construction project. He needn't have looked
very far, either: The Lunder Building on his own campus has been widely
lauded in recent years for its design innovations.
I see this as our collective "trip to visit dad" moment, a reminder that
there's always more work to be done.
Yes, that work lies within the massive existing building stock that's begging to be replaced. But it's also in shaping a message that says: "We got
this." It's great that the built environment's role in creating better healthcare experiences is being recognized, but wouldn't it be even better if this
piece went on to applaud the progress you're all making? It's up to you (and
us), then. Don't forget to share that story. 

John W. Andrews
Carolyn BaRoss
Jody Barry

LEO A DALY

PERKINS+WILL

ADVENTIST CARE CENTERS

Jeffrey Brand
Sam Burnette

HDR

PERKINS EASTMAN

EARL S WENSSON ASSOCIATES

Sheila F. Cahnman
JUMPG ARDEN CONSULTING LLC

Thomas W. Chessum
James Crispino

CO ARCHITECTS

F RANCIS CAUFFMAN

Christine Hester Devens
Mary Frazier

AECOM

EWINGCOLE

Jocelyn Lum Frederick
TSOI/KOBUS & ASSOCIATES

Natalie Miovski Hagerty
THE CHILDREN'S HOS PITAL OF PHILADELPHIA

Laurel Harrison
Walter Jones

STANTEC

METROHEALTH SYSTEM

Julie Kent

TRINITY HEALTH

Michael Lied
Jain Malkin

G BBN ARCHITECTS
J AIN MALKIN INC.

Mike McKay
Don Orndoff

ERDMAN

KAISER PERMANENTE

Diane R.K. Osan

FKP ARCHITECTS

Mark Patterson

SMITHGROUPJJR

Andrew Quirk

S KANSKA USA BUILDING

Pamela H. Redden
UNIVERSITY OF TEX AS , DELL MEDICAL SCHOOL

William D. Repichowskyj
E4H ARCHITECTURE

Joan Saba

NBBJ

Kim Shinn
TLC ENGINEERING FOR ARCHITECTURE

Janet H. Sisolak
UT MD ANDERS ON CANCER CENTER

Karl R. Sonnenberg
ZIMMER GUNS UL F RASCA ARCHITECTS LLP

Steve Stokes CALLISONRTKL
Jeffrey C. Stouffer
Joseph Strauss

HKS INC.

CLEVELAND CLINIC

Paul E. Strohm
Jocelyn Stroupe

HOK

CANNONDESIGN

Don Thomas

BWBR

Roger S. Ulrich
CHALMERS UNIVERS ITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Gary L. Vance

VANCE CONSULTING

APRIL 2017

Healthcare Design - April 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - April 2017