New Tool Provides Accurate Comparison of Key Healthcare Goals with Performance Ratings

Through a grant funded by the American Society of Interior Designers Foundation, The Center for Health Design has created a standard Evidence-Based Design toolkit that interior designers can use for applying research to healthcare design projects and to conduct post-occupancy evaluation of patient rooms.

A set of design checklists and post-occupancy evaluation tools were created through extensive review of research, surveys, site tests and review and validation by expert advisory council members, for three types of hospital patient rooms:

• adult medical-surgical
• adult intensive care
• maternity care (labor delivery recovery/ labor delivery recovery postpartum)

The checklists and POE tools are organized around 23 Evidence-Based Design goals. A series of design considerations and specific design features that support the achievement of each EBD goal are provided to facilitate design decision-making and a thorough check of key EBD elements throughout the design stages. The tools can also help evaluate how well a built patient room performs against key healthcare goals after construction and occupancy.

The tools are available at healthdesign.org.