Embedding cultural diversity in healthcare design

Burkhard Musselmann, managing principal and healthcare architect at the UK office of architectural practice, Stantec, and Brenda Bush-Moline, an ASHE member who is healthcare design lead and senior principal at the firm’s Chicago office, discuss the need to consider cultural diversity in the healthcare design process, and suggest ways in which this can be achieved, drawing on cultural reference points of Stantec healthcare projects worldwide.

Healthcare design best practice has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. While a priority focus remains on efficiency for both operational management and patient care, today’s design best practice is also focused on the journey and experience of patients, families/companions, and the care provider team. This has promoted a much more holistic approach to designing for wellbeing, rather than concentrating on treatment regimes alone.

So, what does this mean in real terms? In the interests of patient dignity, we have relinquished ‘mixed’ male and female wards, and moved to models with private en-suite rooms, where patients can benefit from increased privacy and improved sleep, while hospital managers and clinical teams are better able to address infection control challenges. Arranging accommodation by condition and treatment type, rather than age and gender, has delivered operational benefits for hospitals, and simplified the treatment journey for patients, helping to make the experience of illness or injury, and treatment and recovery, less stressful. Interestingly, this creation of single room environments has now challenged notions of socialisation and the effects of isolation. A current focus is the balance of care protocols, infection control, operational efficiency, and environments that support a social network, and cultural influencers will be a key driver in this conversation.