The healthcare industry has been borrowing trends from the hospitality and workplace industries for quite some time now. Focus on the user experience, to ensure spaces are design for better care. For example, patient rooms with more conveniences for both patients and family while striving to be less clinical, waiting areas that resemble more hotel lobbies so patients and families have calmer spaces while they wait, cafeterias that feel more like restaurants with different seating options for comfort of the families and the staff, and nurse stations that use workplace designs to improve collaboration, communication, and efficiency.
In today’s unknown post-pandemic world, designers must turn to credible research to achieve the best possible results. It is time for the workplace and hospitality industry designers to use healthcare’s evidence-based design (EBD) process. As stated by The Center for Health Design, this is the process in which decisions are based on scientific research to achieve the best possible results and where research has proven that the physical environment does affect the patient outcomes.
Looking forward, it is crucial for all these design industries to share their best practices and lessons learned. The challenges that this time has brought should be used as opportunities to innovate. It is imperative that designers continue to create spaces that are more humane. Spaces that support wellness. Spaces that inspire. Yet, spaces that are safe.
This article will first explore the similarities and differences between the design industries to provide a framework in order to make recommendations on aspects to consider for reintegration or post-pandemic designs.