The Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design (NIHD) has selected Jeri Brittin, Ph.D., Director of Research at HDR, as the 2017 winner of its Lady with the Lamp Research Grant. The grant will support a study titled, “Evaluation of New Nebraska Community Hospital Facilities: Nurse Perspectives and Patient Outcomes in Centralized vs. Decentralized Nursing Units.”

A tribute to Florence Nightingale, whose “Health of Houses” represented an early and groundbreaking ecological model of health, NIHD’s Lady with the Lamp Research Grant honors Nightingale’s work on the impact of the built environment on patient outcomes. Specifically, the grant funds research that addresses Nightingale’s Environmental Theory, a holistic look at the impact of environmental factors such as noise, light and fresh air on patients’ ability to heal.

“We know that design matters in healthcare environments. Yet, frankly, there is a high risk of bias inherent in much of the evidence produced in our industry,” said Dr. Brittin, principal investigator on the study. “To produce stronger evidence applicable to specific groups, and to produce more generalizable evidence, we need to move beyond small, single-site case studies, and develop high-quality research designs. This study represents some initial, deliberate steps in that direction.”

The grant will support Dr. Brittin and her team at HDR in taking an ecological approach engaging an explanatory and convergent mixed-methods research design, exploring the built and organizational environment factors influencing both patient and staff outcomes at two community hospitals: Fremont Health in Fremont, Nebraska, and Great Plains Health in North Platte, Nebraska.

“NIHD is excited to support research that supports the creation of evidence to inform the built environment,” said NIHD President Yolanda Keys, RN, MSN, DHA, NE-BC, EDAC. “This study will be an important contribution to the nursing profession as we work to create health-promoting spaces for all healthcare constituencies.”

“It is truly an honor for our research to be funded by NIHD’s Lady with the Lamp Research Grant,” Dr. Brittin added. “NIHD is a fantastic organization focused on effectively shaping the future of healthcare environments,”