The place where the therapies take place can influence the outcome of the treatment helping to improve the patient’s condition. The humanization of health centers became a priority with the beginning of the new millennium.
If the rule followed in the past to build a place of care was to start from the technical needs dictated by doctors, nurses, managers, administrators and politicians, today’s rule overturns everything, forcing us to see things with the eyes of the patient, a new cornerstone of design.
The first fundamental tool to achieve this reversal of perspective is the designer’s pen who, studying the relationship between spaces and individuals – patients and carers- has weapons such as light, volumes, materials and above all colors to erase the sense of strangeness generally associated with the classic “closed” hospital, made up of anonymous and oppressive structures and colors.
All this clearly shows that studying healthcare facility design course can contribute a lot in the improvised designing of hospitals and medical centres. Only an expert in this field who has the hospital facility management certification would be able to design and manage a healthcare facility far better than an inexperienced one.
A hospital must be a place where patients and the staff who work there feel at ease. Color and light distract the patient from pain. Integration with the territory and the city, as well as the safeguarding of the social dimension, are other fundamental objectives, which the designers have pursued by following different paths.
It is necessary to study the solution that best suits each local reality, and maybe even experiment a little. Humanization should be at 360 degrees, not only on spaces but also on the organization of daily functioning.
This is particularly difficult when one needs to make an existing structure more welcoming. Designing medical institutions is a complex process.
When preparing a comprehensive project, you need to take into account the type of institution (polyclinic, medical center, children’s department, etc.), layout, think over the yard space, places for patients’ leisure, offices for staff, premises for equipment, and other typical features.
Play areas are being prepared for children’s hospitals. The layout should be intuitive. Attention should be paid to lighting, rational use of internal space. It is recommended to use large windows, light colors of wall decoration, furniture.
Typical hospital design: where to start?
A person who has studied hospital design course in USA will carry out design of the hospital by taking into account the standard requirements, the rules enshrined in the healthcare sector. They change periodically, so experienced designers should deal with the project. The service includes:
- Territory zoning;
- Preparation of floor plans and offices;
- Calculation of pathways for patients and staff;
- Selection of equipment locations;
- Development of life support systems, engineering networks.
Design is a creative, complex process that includes a number of stages. The functionality, design of the facility, cost and construction time depend on how well it is done. High-level professionals take into account the wishes of the customer.