Safe design of healthcare facilities

The physical environment has a significant impact on health and safety; however, hospitals have not been designed with the explicit goal of enhancing patient safety through facility design. In April 2002, St Joseph's Community Hospital of West Bend, a member of SynergyHealth, brought together leaders in healthcare and systems engineering to develop a set of safety-driven facility design recommendations and principles that would guide the design of a new hospital facility focused on patient safety. By introducing safety-driven innovations into the facility design process, environmental designers and healthcare leaders will be able to make significant contributions to patient safety.