As the COVID-19 outbreak unfolds across the U.S. and world, the healthcare design community is being called to action. Industry members are now navigating challenges ranging from combating limited resources and ICU/isolation beds to constructing temporary facilities and testing sites, all while maintaining a constant eye on infection control across scenarios.
Healthcare Design will continue to monitor the situation with an eye on design and the built environment, and the role each plays in how the pandemic is managed.
Here, you’ll find an updated list of COVID-19-related articles and news items as we publish them. Additionally, we’ve compiled archived content from Healthcare Design on topics including infection control and prevention as well as biocontainment.
If you’re interested in sharing your story, including how your organization/firm is responding to COVID-19, email Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Kovacs Silvis at jennifer.silvis@emeraldx.com.
COVID-19 COVERAGE
Is There A Silver Lining To COVID-19?
New design ideas and practices could evolve from this current crisis that will positively inform how we plan future healthcare settings.
The WELL Conference Postponed To August
The inaugural event has been rescheduled in response to updated guidance regarding COVID-19.
ASHRAE Releases Building Guide To Address Coronavirus Concerns
The organization’s COVID-19 Preparedness Resources webpage provides resources for building industry professionals.
Risk Factor: Q+A With Robert Counter
Healthcare Design spoke to Leo A Daly’s Robert Counter, a special pathogens unit design expert, for insight on what to expect as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds in the U.S. and how facilities can best respond.
Risk Factor: Coronavirus Outbreak
China’s coronavirus outbreak serves as a reminder that our healthcare facilities must be designed to control the spread of any virus or infectious disease.
HEALTHCARE DESIGN ARCHIVE
Precautionary Tale: A Detailed Approach To Biocontainment Unit Design
In 2004, as part of nationally coordinated antiterrorism efforts, Nebraska Medicine brought online a first-of-its-kind unit for the safe treatment of deadly infectious diseases. Early involvement of frontline staff with the design team of Leo A Daly was crucial to creating a unit that met the complex safety, operational, and psychological needs of clinicians working in this challenging environment.
Risk Management: Preparing Your Facility To Handle Infectious Disease Patients
Earlier this year as the World Health Organization was declaring that the countries hit hardest by Ebola—Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone—had zero reported cases for at least 42 days, another infectious disease was making daily headlines around the globe: Zika virus. At times like these, it’s easy for infectious disease control to be a hot topic among healthcare providers and designers.
The Battle Against Healthcare-associated Infections
A cabinet handle, a handrail, a countertop—choose your weapon. Or choose all of the weapons….
Making Room For Isolation Patients
The state of Texas, after a visit from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last fall, designated Texas Children’s Hospital as a pediatric Ebola treatment center. With a $16 million budget, the hospital’s west campus is now building out an eight-bed isolation unit (as well as 10 beds for acute care) within previously shelled space on the patient tower’s 5th floor.
Ebola Inspires Healthcare Facility Contingency Plan
Throughout history, pandemics—plague, small pox, and measles, among others—have caused millions of deaths. These were largely eradicated in developed countries by the 20th century, but strains such as HIV and now Ebola are continuing to kill thousands throughout the world, specifically affecting underdeveloped nations with weak healthcare systems. Ease of global travel has now increased exposure to the most virulent of these diseases, and many are starting to creep back into North America and Europe.
How Design Can Improve Infection Prevention And Control
Twenty years ago it was a “forgone conclusion” that some patients would contract a healthcare-associated infection (HAI), said Linda Dickey, senior director of quality, safety, and infection prevention at the University of California Irvine Medical Center.
Applying Lean Priciples To Infection Prevention
The application of Lean thinking can have a significant effect on many aspects of healthcare design, and infection control—a top priority in the industry right now—is no exception.
Air Distribution Patterns Within Airborne Infectious Isolation Rooms
An airborne infection isolation (Aii) room is designed with negative pressurization to protect patients and people outside the room from the spread of microorganisms transmitted by airborne droplet nuclei (small-particle residue of evaporated droplets containing microorganisms that remain suspended in the air for long periods of time) that infect the patient inside the room.
Design That Meets Ebola At The Door
The recent outbreak of Ebola in parts of West Africa put in focus the lack of a coherent strategy for addressing infectious disease outbreaks, as fear and confusion around the crisis resulted in many potentially preventable deaths.
Research Matters: Flooring And The Chain Of Infection
In this installment of the blog series from The Center for Health Design, the research team gives insight into the chain of infection for low-touch surfaces, such as floors.
Part 1: Q+A with Michael Murphy, MASS Design Group
At a time when “improving patient outcomes” is the first thing off anyone’s lips regarding the ultimate goal in designing healthcare facilities, the work of MASS Design Group (Boston) stands out as an extreme example of that goal in practice.
HAIs Linked to Design Features and Materials
Emerging results from a large study focused on the relationships between design and healthcare-associated infections (HAI) point to risks in common design materials and how design can reduce risks, researchers told attendees at the Healthcare Design conference in Phoenix.
Global Response: Students Tackle Real-World Issues With Isolution Unit Designs
Last summer, as the Ebola virus continued to make headlines and the World Health Organization declared the outbreak—which spread primarily in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone—a public health emergency of international concern
Infection Prevention: What Design Can Do
As we all track the Ebola story with acute interest and concern, healthcare design industry professionals (like everyone else in healthcare) are struggling to consider ways in which they might be able to stem the spread of disease within the care environment. When a virus like this takes hold, and even strict protocols prove not to be foolproof, the urgency of the matter demands real innovation, and fast.
Healthcare-associated Infections Keep Industry On High Alert
Although recent Ebola cases have garnered the national spotlight, healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) claim the lives of 99,000 Americans every year. Not only is the human toll of HAIs staggering, the cost of treating them in the U.S. is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be upwards of $20 billion—one of the reasons why hospitals are facing reductions in Medicare payments if they don’t reduce HAIs by 2015.
Using Design To Combat Infection Control Nightmares
The other day a colleague of mine told me she has nightmares about red dots—and I can’t blame her. Those red dots were part of a presentation given by Russell Olmsted, director of infection prevention and control services at St. Joseph Mercy Health System (Ann Arbor, Mich.), during DuPont’s recent Healthcare Speakers Series event on designing for infection control.
Infection Prevention To Protect Vulnerable Patient Populations
Infection control is a critical issue for any hospital. And for Loie Ruhl, infection prevention specialist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, having evidence readily available to support her initiatives in protecting environments under construction was a goal she hoped to achieve.
The War On Infection Prevention: The Privacy Curtain
The battle over infection prevention has been waged on most surfaces, materials, and equipment in the patient room. The quest to curb hospital-borne infections has made patient rooms easier to clean and created processes that remove materials that may be home to bacteria.
Infection Control by Design in the Surgical Environment
The Academy of Architecture for Health recently held a Webinar-based roundtable discussion on the topic of design for surgical environments. Of interest was a discussion of suggested workflow practices and design concepts for contemporary invasive environments for patient care.
For even more articles over the years, search the HCDmagazine.com site for terms including “infection prevention,” “infection control,” and “biocontainment.”
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