From Institutional to Inspiring Healthcare Design

Design of healthcare environments is about more than style and aesthetics. A skillfully-designed hospital room can encourage a patient's healing process, overall well-being and better health outcomes, while reducing stress by creating comfortable surroundings. Much like medicine, healthcare design is now focusing on using an evidence base to inform best practices in design. How is evidence-based design being incorporated into planning of healthcare spaces? How can small changes in design, such as lighting from below or lowering the height of windowsills, make a big impact on patient experience? John Waugh, design and planning principal for the firm Ellerbe Becket, discusses design ideas and innovations that are transforming the healthcare landscape from institutional to inspiring. A beautiful atrium can even provoke an impromptu patient concert, as seen here. Dr. Eric Tangalos hosts.