Poor hospital design can make it easier for infections to spread, generate or amplify noise that irritates patients and staff, according to an article on the InForum website.
Studies have shown that brightly lit patient rooms appreciably shortened hospital stays for depressed patients, for instance, and designs that invoke the natural world provide positive distractions for patients that reduce stress and aid healing, the article said.
The new Sanford Medical Center incorporates color schemes evoking the prairie, with blues and earth tones, to provide serene surroundings.
The new $494 million Sanford facility, currently under construction in Fargo, N.D., is being called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to design a optimal healing facility.
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