ARTICLE
Zimring, C., Denham, M. E., Jacob, J. T., Kamerow, D.B., Lenfesty, N., Hall, K. K., Steinberg, J. P. (2013). The role of facility design in preventing healthcare-associated infection: Interventions, conclusion, and research needs. Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 7(Suppl), pp. 127-139.
Abstract
Objective: To summarize the findings and provide recommendations based on the multidisciplinary literature review and industry scan, focusing on the links between the built environment and healthcare-associated infections. To propose a research agenda in order to increase informed design decisions and advance the evidence base.
Background: The HAI-Design project explores the research linking a range of design interventions to healthcare-associated infection. The multidisciplinary team evaluated over 3,800 articles and conducted interviews with a range of stakeholders including CEOs, architects, designers, physicians and other healthcare experts, the results of which are featured in this special Supplement as topical papers.
Topical Headings: The four topical papers describing the role of the built environment in the acquisition of healthcare-associated infections are summarized. The evidence evaluating the strategies for intervention through the built environment is analyzed, and a research agenda is proposed.
Conclusions: While the evidence base supporting the efficacy of strategies and technologies continues to grow, there are currently few data that demonstrate a reduction in infection rates. The need for multidisciplinary collaboration and increased efforts to standardize the evaluation
of environmental studies are essential to overcome the many challenges and improve the reliability of data.
Keywords: Built environment, evidence-based design, healthcare-association infection, hospital, infection control
Experts
Craig Zimring, PhD, EDAC is a board member of the Center for Health Design and one of the developers of evidence-based design. He is the director of the SimTigrate Design Lab and has produced over 80 publications in scholarly and professional press. While he continues to conduct field research, his work has recently evolved to new questions about how we can better integrate evidence into planning and design through simulation and modeling methods drawn from systems engineering, mechanical engineering, architectural research and other disciplines.
Megan Denham is a Senior Research Scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). She has a joint appointment with the Georgia Tech Center for Advanced Communications Policy, and is a Pediatric Fellow with the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Technology Center. Ms. Denham also serves on the Board for the Institute for Pediatric Innovation. Ms. Denham’s core research interests include improving healthcare systems by providing safer, more efficient patient-centered care, supporting healthcare paradigm shift to virtual care, and utilizing data analytics to target and intervene with population health disparities. During the course of her career, she has continuously evaluated problems by looking at the surrounding context including technology, care culture process and the environment of care. This approach to research led to involvement in critical health initiatives, including the fight against COVID-19.