Electroencephalography Laboratory (EEG) Design Guide - Office of ...

ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY LABORATORY (EEG) NOVEMBER 29, 2011
benefits of specific tests and treatment. Opportunities for patient education should be planned for easy access
in settings where the patient can control privacy. These can include information kiosks or rooms in waiting
areas.
Enhance Human Interaction / Encourage Involvement of Family and Friends
Facility solutions that support increased interaction with care providers and family or friends include providing
for family and friends in waiting by offering adequate space and amenities.
Healing Environment
Planning solutions should promote patient dignity and increase privacy. This will lower stress and increase
comfort in support of healing and wellness.
In exam rooms, curtains or screens should be used to increase privacy options. Patient diagnostic or treatment
position should orient the patient’s head toward the door, rather than his or her feet.
Reception and Waiting areas should include planning that provides different spaces for patients who seek
social interaction and for those who seek more privacy. Smaller scale spaces with separations created by low
partitions, furniture or planters will provide options for more privacy in these settings.
Access to nature and to daylight can lower stress. Areas for family respite should be provided in or near the
exam area. Where site, climate, and building configuration permit, access to outdoor space can serve as a
welcome area for respite. In addition, planning that brings daylight, if not views, into the exam area would be
an important addition to support healing.
One strategy to bring natural light deep into the building might be to use light shelves at the window wall that
bounce light off ceilings thus delivering light deeper into the exam area. To the extent that this can be achieved,
this more effective delivery of light can help the entire building become a light-filled facility for healing in which
all users; patients, family, and staff, reap the benefits.
Other issues specific to planning and design for Veterans’ Care include the following:
Imagery and Artwork
Veterans’ military experiences require a specific approach to the selection of imagery and artwork that is
healing and restorative. Commemorative settings and iconography of national and symbolic importance help
veterans recover from post-traumatic stress disorder. Units with artwork and color palettes that incorporate
nature imagery that are not evocative of combat settings, and that honor veterans (e.g., photography of Mount
Rushmore and national parks), can calm and restore patients. Note that nature images that may be considered
restorative and healing for patients in the general public can communicate exposure and vulnerability to a
veteran whose military service occurred in a similar setting (e.g. savannah or desert images).
NARRATIVE
SECTION 2 - PAGE 14