Justice Architecture - Royal Architectural Institute of Canada

DEsigning better healthcare
www.raic.org / 2014
Presentations were organized so that similar material was grouped together at
the conference, regardless of the country from which the presenter originated.
“In that way, the messages of each presentation were reinforced,” says
Harvey. “One of the key messages I took away from my own research is that the
practice of healthcare design does not change as you cross borders. There are
cultural nuances and some parameters are influenced by system decisions, but
the fundamental arguments about healthcare design are similar across borders
and around the world.”
Conference presenters included professionals from Canada and the U.S.,
and ranged to presenters from countries as far away as the UK, France, Germany,
Italy, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and China. Presenters included architects,
interior designers, doctors and government officials.
Presentations also covered a wide variety of topics and disciplines, linked
by a strong emphasis on research-based design, evidence-based decisionmaking
and patient care that is both effective and cost-efficient.
The topics presented included a series of questions designed to intrigue audiences
as well as inform them. How can the design of a hospital affect the health
of a city? What sort of measurable effect does building and interior design or the
presence and timing of lighting have on patient outcomes? Can landscape design
result in measurable improvements in patient health? How can healthcare facilities
be better designed to accommodate an aging population? How can healthcare
facility design directly improve the morale and productivity of staff members?
Should healthcare architects consider themselves medical professionals?
Some of the presentations resulted directly from particular challenges in
patient care. One presenter described how a mental health centre could be made
more secure for staff and visitors, without making the building less conducive to
calm and healing. An interior designer was charged with the task of making the
interior of a healthcare facility almost literally disappear for critically ill patients
who would simply rather be anywhere else.
Presenters repeatedly stressed that effective designs affecting patient health
and treatment outcomes could only be achieved if design professionals collaborated
with healthcare professionals as well as engineers. Only then could they
access the research required to demonstrate that one design approach achieved
superior results for patients when compared to another at an acceptable cost.
The conference attracted a broad scope of attendees, ranging from members
of architectural firms from across North America and the international market, to
senior decision makers and CEOs of hospitals and healthcare facilities, managers
responsible for healthcare facility redevelopment and Harvey’s own colleagues
from the MOH.
“I can walk away from this conference with a lot of valuable knowledge
points about materials, glazing and lighting, which are all extremely important
to patients and the health of the community,” says Harvey. “But our job is to put
it all together into an intelligent story. As those stories are developed with senior
decision-makers, CEOs of hospitals, doctors and healthcare team members and
shared on an international level, these intelligent stories will actually begin to ring
true and gather momentum.”
10 ■ Architecture Canada