A Study on Healing Environments and Evidence-Based Design - Focused on Healthcare Environments in the United States -

Abstract

This paper assesses the evidence of the built environments' impact on patients' and staff's well-being. It also introduces evidence-based design (EBD) and discusses barriers and solutions for promoting EBD. EBD is an informed approach to design by improving design decisions based on best available knowledge. Designers should provide psychologically and physically supportive environments to promote occupants' well-being. There is increasing evidence that a poorly designed environment elicits negative feelings and stress. Better design will lead to better outcomes especially when it applied to a vulnerable population such as patients, children, and the elderly. Due to high demands of promoting patients' health, healthcare providers and professional designers have been searching for evidence to create healing environments. EBD has been well received in healthcare facilities design and is expanding to other types of environmental design such as educational and commercial design. Design firms should consider EBD as a value-added component of design to meet current and future challenges. It is important for designers to realize that engaging in EBD is not a rejection of creativity, but a means by which to scrutinize their design projects. With critical literature reviews on healing environments, there is sufficient evidence that well-designed environments can promote patients' and medical staff's health outcomes.