Humanization And Quality Of Hospital Environments

The trends in relation to the planning, design and equipment of the entities that offer health services at this time focus on several aspects to be able to cover the different variables that protect the needs of the moment.

Current trends should be based on at least 8 topics:

  1. Creation of curative environments
  2. Evidence-based design
  3. Construction sustainability
  4. Quality certifications
  5. Patient safety
  6. Infection control
  7. Incorporation of technologies
  8. Communication

The creation of healing environments refers to the interaction of the five senses with the environment. Senses that allow knowing and enjoying, therefore they are potential to heal, work, feel pleasure and communicate.

Several authors highlight the importance of architectural design, natural light, exterior views, privacy, lighting control, colours, cleanliness, climate, sounds (noises), accessibility and ease of communication, clear signage, the construction materials, finishes and furniture are essential to achieve a welcoming and pleasant environment for patients and healthcare personnel.

A very expensive hospital building does not necessarily mean that it is of good quality, it can have many undesirable characteristics such as improper operation of the proximity relationships between departments, very small spaces, insufficient sound insulation between the offices, etc.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

In the design of hospital environments, in addition to meeting the spatial and functional requirements, it is important to consider some basic criteria that contribute to the humanization of these environments, such as security and privacy. And this is why, it is of utmost important to contact healthcare architecture firms in India before building your medical center or hospital.

Safety: The physical environment should try to safeguard the personal sensitivity and human dignity of patients and their families, try to lessen their anxieties and concerns, especially in those cases where patients and their families are going through difficult times, such as: waiting for the results of a surgery, an emergency, intensive therapy, or a crucial diagnosis.

This can be considered when selecting finishes, taking into account that there is no need to create all aseptic environments giving priority to maintenance, reflective surfaces are not desirable.

Security can be provided by providing a warm non-institutional environment, in order to reduce fear, and increase the confidence and self-esteem of the users.

Privacy: it is a primary consideration in the design of environments conducive to the practice of Medicine. This sensation is crucial for patients receiving a certain type of treatment, such as cancer patients, which frequently manifest feelings of depression, anxiety, fear of being discriminated against, rejection, etc.

The physical environment and the size of the spaces should provide adequate levels of privacy. While waiting in critical areas, personalized spaces are necessary where families can wait together with a minimum of contact with other patients, but it is also convenient to have spaces that suggest a certain sociability and stimulate personal contact since some patients and families feel considerable support by sharing your concerns with others who are experiencing the same situation.

According to hospital project consultants in India, in the internal areas of the emergency or first aid department, it is convenient to visually and acoustically separate the pediatrics areas from those for adults, women from men, critical patients from chronic patients, in order to lessen the impressions that may psychologically disturb the patients and their families, and prevent their recovery, reassurance and progress.

A Measure Of Health Care Quality: Patient Satisfaction

Personality characteristics of healthcare personnel, courtesy, affection, interest and understanding, professional attitudes, ways of presenting their knowledge and skills, especially the patient-nurse relationship plays an important role in patient satisfaction.

In the literature, the most important factor affecting patient satisfaction is communication and adequate information to the patient.

Because the ability of health care providers to communicate with patients plays a major role in making patients feel valued or worthless. While patient-centred and individualized care makes the patient feel valuable, it also creates a relationship of trust between people.

Also, feeling valued as an individual is in a sense related to being adequately informed. In many cases, health personnel who determine the needs of individuals and provide information about these needs make patients feel valuable.

Improving nursing services is important in order to increase patient satisfaction in the health sector. Patients’ satisfaction with nursing care during their hospital stay is the most important factor affecting their satisfaction with all hospital services.

It is stated that nursing service is a very important factor in patients’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction with their hospital experiences, and therefore, the interactions and behaviours of nursing staff with patients are the main factors in patient satisfaction.

The reasons why nursing services are important in patient satisfaction

In hospitals, personnel at all levels of the hospital determine the quality of patient care, together with physical tools and equipment.

Hospitals established to provide patient care services have to use their existing resources such as personnel, tools and equipment efficiently in order to achieve their goals. Staff is an important tool for a hospital that carries out its services in a labour-intensive way to achieve its goals.

The efficiency and productivity level of the hospital is directly related to the staff’s qualifications such as interest, effort, diligence and competence.

The management and satisfaction of hospital employees producing health-related services, which are the most complex services of today, will require the planned efforts with the management approach, and this can be achieved by opting for hospital management consultancy in India.

The theme of quality in health care accompanied clinics and doctors’ offices for a long time. The goal of a health service is always to avoid or eliminate illnesses or to alleviate symptoms or to make them controllable for as long as possible.

It has to do with the quality of the treatment. The right measure at the right time leads to the perfect result if it is carried out correctly and corresponds to the patient’s goals.

Nurses are always with them to meet the needs of patients and the maintenance and rehabilitation of individuals are among the primary responsibilities of nurses.

The physical or social comfort that hospitals provide can make individuals feel at home and increase their satisfaction. Patients who are adequately informed, valued, and feel at home feel more confident in both the treatment and care they receive and the healthcare team providing this service.

Patient satisfaction is a multidimensional concept that includes the provision of the service, the interaction of the patient and the service providers, the existence of the service, the continuity of the service, the competence of the service providers and communication features.

Therefore, patient satisfaction is regarded as a result of health services and generally as an indicator of quality of care, and this is why, we suggest you to turn to healthcare consultancy in India.

How to Reduce Stress in a Children’s Hospital through Architecture?

The benefits that people can obtain through plants or contact with nature have been debated for thousands of years. Historical records indicate that this principle was taken up in ancient hospitals, where the main objective was to make patients comfortable.

With the purpose of eliminating the risks of pathogens, caused by the infrastructure of the environment, remodeling of the structures has been made, leaving aside the outdoor areas for the use of patients.

Hospital Architecture consultant in delhi

However, hospitals have been found to be stressful environments, in part because their structure is complex and unfamiliar.

It has been emphasized that both children, as well as patients in general and visitors, need settings for recreation, imagination and physical play.

A functional plan consists of designing a plan of activities within the hospital in which the characteristics that must configure and specify the needs and demands anticipated by possible users are identified, with which it seeks to guarantee adequate levels of service and quality.

Minimum- like in a hospital, maximum- like at home

The image of the hospital as such is more negative than positive. After all, what associations do we have with this place? It’s something cold, sterile, with eerie neon lighting.

Earlier, the main thing was hygiene, and, say, the view from the window received much less attention. Today the situation is changing.

This, of course, does not mean that hospitals have become dirtier. But they are increasingly becoming similar in style and approach to the design of premises to hotels.

The room where the patient is located should not shout with all its appearance: “I’m sick! I feel bad! I’m in the hospital! “It is much better if the ward reminds of home, it will be cozy. The same can be said about the hospital building as a whole.

Modern hospital designers & planners pay a lot of attention to lighting hospital premises, and in this case we are talking not only about operating rooms, where everything is prescribed in advance, but about wards and corridors.

Daylight costs nothing, so it should be used as much as possible, in addition, the physical characteristics of the body must be taken into account: the patient must not be allowed to fall asleep when the fluorescent light is on.

Night lighting should be different from daylight. Today, there is also a lot of attention to materials: parquet floor, for example, looks much more comfortable than others.

According to hospital planners in India, the functionality of a medical institution should not suffer in any way, the only thing that can lose to some extent is architecture as an art form: after all, we cannot design a building that interferes with the work of doctors.

A modern hospital is a real city living its own life, there are treatment rooms, and wards where patients sometimes spend several weeks, a restaurant, a cafe, a delivery service, and a laboratory.

So that these “blocks” cooperate, but do not interfere with each other. At the same time, the clinic should still be beautiful.

The hospital today should be inscribed in the urban environment: it becomes not a place where sick people are, but a health center.