Chapter 28. The Impact of Facility Design on Patient Safety

Recent attention in health care has been on the actual architectural design of a hospital facility, including its technology and equipment, and its effect on patient safety. To address the problems of errors in health care and serious safety issues, fundamental changes of health care processes, culture, and the physical environment are necessary and need to be aligned, so that the caregivers and the resources that support them are set up for enabling safe care. The facility design of the hospital, with its equipment and technology, has not historically considered the impact on the quality and safety of patients, yet billions of dollars are and will be invested annually in health care facilities. This provides a unique opportunity to use current and emerging evidence to improve the physical environment in which nurses and other caregivers work, and thus improve both nurse and patient outcomes.