“Everything happens in the hallways”: Exploring user activity in the corridors at two rehabilitation units

Implications for the design from this study include: Incorporate bathrooms in patient rooms so patients do not have to cross corridors for personal care. Design team areas to allow interaction between healthcare professionals in a confidential secure area, not in a hallway. If conversations/interactions need to occur in a corridor, incorporate alcoves with white noise to promote confidentiality of patient information. Provide additional storage areas or alcoves to place equipment such as wheelchairs and other equipment out of the travel pathway. For rehabilitation facilities, design corridors to be wider than code minimum and entry/egress points (doorways and elevators) to accommodate wheelchairs. Perhaps a rule of thumb should be that rehabilitation unit corridors are wide enough for two-way traffic. Design rehabilitation units without corridors. Perhaps an open architectural concept may eliminate or reduce the number of corridors that patients must contend with. This would imply that medication, clean utility, soiled utility, and staff spaces may be designed to one side of a unit rather than centralized. In addition, placing satellite nurses’ documentation areas in proximity to a cluster of patient rooms would allow better staff observation of patient rooms. Deinstitutionalize the look and feel of rehabilitation units. One patient comment reported that “hallways give a first impression” of the unit. Incorporate therapy services into rehabilitation units themselves or within close proximity to the unit to prevent excessive travel by patients. If the unit has an outdoor patio or common area, do not have the access point through a patient room, as reported in the study. Use interactive virtual reality (VR) mockups during the design phase of the unit building/remodeling to allow staff and patients input to unit layout.