The growing emphasis of evidence-based design and other research is positively impacting healthcare design, according to an article on the Health Facilities Management website.
Architect and professor D. Kirk Hamilton said healthcare design is more robust than ever. Practitioners are more experienced and better prepared to deal with its complexity.
He cited an increase in focused healthcare design programs at universities and a board certification process through the American College of Healthcare Architects.
"Things have improved by leaps and bounds. When I started designing my first small, community hospital in the early 1970s, most hospitals were unbelievably drab, institutional, dark, dismal and dreary," Hamilton said.
A Shift in Healthcare Facilities Management
Trauma-Informed Design Transforms Boston Homeless Shelter
Inside One of Healthcare's Most Ambitious Hospital Projects 
Disinfectant Contact Time: The Case for Biofilm Disruption
Texas HHSC Reaches Construction Milestone for Panhandle State Hospital in Amarillo