Thirty years after a seminal study on the healing benefits of healthcare design, a 'room with a view' is still news, according to an article on the Bloomberg News website. Healthcare design benefits are still focused on public areas.
The problem is a lack of incentives and feedback, the article said. New hospitals tend to lavish money on public areas and treat hidden departments, such as the imaging suites, as purely functional. Even when money isn’t an issue, they make choices that please administrators but ignore research.
Last year, JAMA published an opinion column by a medical student who had been struck by the contrast when he moved from adult departments to a pediatric rotation. Suddenly the environment was cheerful. Adults deserve the same consideration.
But, except when they shop for birthing centers or daily radiation treatments, patients who might benefit don’t exert enough pressure on hospitals to change, the article said.
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