Designing Health Care: Improving patient and staff safety through Evidence-based Design

Covid19 has shown us very clearly that design and architecture play an important role in healthcare settings. In the light of the pandemic, it has become even more important to communicate messages clearly and effectively or to design safe and efficient environments. In order to improve our facilities and communications in the field of health care we need to gain a better understanding of the impact of design and architecture. Hence, we need processes, tools, and infrastructures that allow us to learn more about the needs and behaviors of service users and staff members of healthcare settings.

The  interdisciplinary research group Health Care Communication Design HCCD of the Bern University of Applied Sciences BFH consists of experts from the field of design, architecture, nursing, medical informatics and economy. Their projects are situated at the interface of design with the areas of communication, architecture, IT infrastructures, work organization, patient and staff safety, evidence-based nursing, health service quality and processes.

In this 3-day course, members of the research group HCCD from the areas of design, architecture and nursing will give insights into their projects and approaches towards the design of health care settings. Central to their projects is the inclusion of evidence-based design. This approach takes psychological, social and physical aspects into account when designing products, communication material, environments, interventions, processes or services within the health care sector. This leads to more effective communication, reduces patient and staff stress and injuries, promotes well-being and supports the healing process of patients.

The 3-day course will  focus on the following topic areas:

  1. Evidence-based design in the field of health care: theoretical background on the impact of design and architecture in health care settings;
  2. Examples and projects: examples from the practice of the research group HCCD show the integration of evidence-based design to solve concrete problems within health care settings. The focus will be on patient and staff safety within these settings.
  3. Methods and tools: end user (patients, clients, health care staff etc.) involvement in practice projects and scientific research to improve user driven development and evidence.