Healthcare Design - April 2019 - 36

In Focus

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Providing patients an appropriate level of
choice and control of their environment was
also important in the design, to empower patients in their recovery and to convey a sense
of respect from caregivers. For example, a patient-controlled digital artwork display on the
footwall allows patients to choose the natural
landscape they wish to view.
MOCK-UP DEVELOPMENT

But the work didn't stop with the conceptual
design. HDR spent the next three years working closely with the IPCD's team of advisers, including lead juror Jim Hunt, founder and senior
consultant at Behavioral Health Facility Consulting (Topeka, Kan.), and juror Mardelle McCuskey Shepley, professor at Cornell University
(Ithaca, N.Y.). The group developed a mock-up
of the design, including a low-fidelity version,
during a design charrette held in 2017 at Savannah College of Art & Design.
IPCD also teamed with the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care
System (VANJHCS) to build a high-fidelity
mock-up on its campus in Lyons, N.J. Eighteen
manufacturers and vendors donated specialty
products and materials, and VANJHCS provided
the space and the labor to build the unit, which
was completed in early 2018.
The goal of the mock-up was to apply an
evidence-based design approach to gain
feedback from veterans, staff, and outside
groups regarding preferred design features,
such as furniture, lighting, door hardware, toilet
accessories, and plumbing fixtures. In support
of the VA's guiding principles for its behavioral
health service delivery system to deliver hope,
self-direction, empowerment, respect, and peer
support to patients, the design also incorporated
elements that give patients choice in basic life
activities, such as controlling temperature and
flow of water in the shower.

B E H AV I O R A L H E A L T H

FILLING THE VOID

Collaboration on a behavioral health room
mock-up is creating new resources to inform
design going forward By Brian Giebink,
Kimberly McMurray, and Mary Therese
Hankinson

healthcare is renewing focus on the design of inpatient
psychiatric facilities, with the goal to provide welcoming, relaxing, safe environments that put patients at
ease and help them be receptive to their treatment.
However, according to leading researchers in the field
of health environment design, evidence on the subject
isn't sufficient to influence the design of such spaces.
The Institute for Patient-Centered Design (IPCD), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the built environment to better meet the
needs of patients and their families, has been working to fill this void over
the past several years. In 2015, IPCD held a design competition focusing
on the behavioral healthcare inpatient bedroom and bathroom, for which
three finalists presented their ideas using virtual reality during an educational session at the Healthcare Design Expo & Conference. Conference
attendees then voted on the top design, selecting HDR's "One Haven" project as the winner.
HDR's restorative environment was designed to empower patients to
take active ownership of their behavioral health wellness journey while
maintaining a safe and secure environment for all. The team used an evidence-based design process and consulted peer-reviewed journals, case
studies of existing behavioral health facilities, experts, patients, and families to gain important perspectives. Strategies to promote safety for all parties in every aspect were incorporated, from the fixtures and furniture to
the flooring and doors.

A mock-up of the behavioral health inpatient
room was created by
HDR, the Institute for
Patient-Centered Design,
and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
New Jersey Health Care
System.

HCDMAGAZINE.COM

APRIL 2019

G AT H E R I N G F E E D B A C K

After construction was completed, IPCD held
an open house event for groups to tour the
space and provide feedback on the design features and products incorporated in its construction. Shepley, along with Naomi Sachs,
founding director of Therapeutic Landscapes
Network and a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University, and staff from Cornell University, collaborated with the project team on
performance improvement activities. Those
included two evaluation methods of the mockup room used by the VA, listening sessions and

VA PHOTO, S COTT R. SNELL

ROWING AWARENESS of the importance of behavioral

http://www.HCDMAGAZINE.COM

Healthcare Design - April 2019

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