Event: Harvard University Graduate School of Design Lecture Series
Title: Habitats for Healers: Architecture Design for Clinicians
Date: April 29 2019
Dochitect was invited to the Harvard’s Graduate School of Design to discuss design for health providers:
Lectures
Dochitect was invited to participate and run a workshop for the annual HEAL event at the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health!
CLICK HERE for more information about the event!
Conference Presentations
Publication: Architecture Ireland
Publication Reference: February 26, 2019
Authors Diana Anderson
Click HERE to read the full article
Commentaries
Event: Design Museum Boston
Title: The Architecture of Health
Date: January 25, 2019
Design Museum Mornings with Diana Anderson, MD, M.Arch, healthcare architect, and a board-certified internist.Can architecture impact health? Increasingly, clinicians are asking not only for the architect’s perspective, but to develop a skill-set and knowledge-base that will allow them to help shape the future of health. Architects aim to engage clinical professionals in research, education, and practice. For some patients, design can succeed where drugs may fail. For clinicians, the built environment can support and improve efficient care delivery. We all have a shared goal in seeking to enhance health outcomes through innovations in the design of healthcare spaces.
Dochitect speaks at the Design Museum Boston Morning event about The Architecture of Health!
Keynote Presentations, Lectures
Publication: The Lancet
Publication Reference: December 7, 2018
Authors: Diana C Anderson, Steph A Pang, Desmond O’Neill, Eve A Edelstein
The Lancet features Architectural Design and Health!
“During my medical residency, I realized how much burnout affected us as trainees on the front lines of care. In particular, I noticed that much of that difficulty was tied to the areas in which we worked—constant noise, poor lighting, and lack of daylight. Space design made patient care challenging at times, too; for example, not being able to access the correct side of my patient to perform the physical exam as I had been taught. I often considered that the built environment could improve care delivery with more collaboration amongst designers and clinicians.”— Diana Anderson
The disciplines of public and environmental health have long recognised the impact of the built environment on health. Yet clinicians have limited opportunity to engage with architects and design professionals, and the impact of health-care design is largely absent from health policy discussions. However, this is beginning to change.
Read more HERE!
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Publication: Journal of General Internal Medicine
Publication Reference: 2018 Oct 25 [Epub ahead of print]; In print 2019;34(2),312-316
Author: Diana C. Anderson
The volume and rigor of evidence-based design have increasingly grown over the last three decades since the field’s inception, supporting research-based designs to improve patient outcomes. This movement of using evidence from engineering and the hard sciences is not necessarily new, but design-based health research launched with the demonstration that post-operative patients with window views towards nature versus a brick wall yielded shorter lengths of hospital stay and less analgesia use, promoting subsequent investigations and guideline development. Architects continue to base healthcare design decisions on credible research, with a recent shift in physician involvement in the design process by introducing clinicians to design-thinking methodologies. In parallel, architects are becoming familiar with research-based practice, allowing for further rigor and clinical partnership. This cross-pollination of fields could benefit from further discussion surrounding the ethics of hospital architecture as applied to current building codes and guidelines. Historical precedents where the building was used as a form of treatment can inform future concepts of ethical design practice when applied to current population health challenges, such as design for dementia care. While architecture itself does not necessarily provide a cure, good design can act as a preventative tool and enhance overall quality of care.
Read more here!
Event: Institute for Human Centered Design, Boston
Title: Architectural Form + Clinical Function: A Design Paradigm Follows
Date: October 9, 2018
“A thought-provoking talk. I also loved your sketches.”
“Diana was amazing! So articulate and thoughtful, we are excited to see what you do next!”
“‘Design matters & design can prevent disease’ – Dr. Diana Anderson @dochitect – on #ethics in architecture & design for healthcare – speaking at @IHCDesign for #HUBweek #architecture #designmatters”
Lecture overview: The delivery and design of healthcare today is rapidly changing, and increasingly complex. How are we closing the gap between designer intent and user experience? Increasingly, clinicians are asking not only for the architect’s perspective, but to develop a skill-set and knowledge-base that will allow them to help shape the future of health. Architects aim to engage clinical professionals within research, education and practice. We all have a shared goal in seeking to enhance health outcomes through innovations in the design of healthcare spaces, technologies, care delivery systems and policies. Specialized experts who can offer unique perspectives and hybrid models in problem-solving of complex systems are increasingly seen. Through combined thinking, research-based design has expanded to understand and improve the experience within healthcare spaces.
For some patients, design can succeed where drugs may fail. For clinicians, the built environment can support and improve efficient care delivery. Current trends, ideas and next steps for design to enrich our healthcare interface are presented, including an overview of:
(1) the infrequent historical intersection and recent convergence of medicine and design;
(2) the impact of architecture on health for preventative care;
(3) the future of health with an emphasis on multidisciplinary collaborative space, technology, and health spaces within our homes.
Event: HUBweek 2018 Change Maker Conference, Boston
Title: How Architecture Impacts our Health
Date: October 8, 2018
Dochitect speaks at HUBweek 2018 in Boston as part of the Change Maker Conference event!
How Architecture Impacts our Health: Design Thinking for Medicine
The delivery and design of healthcare today is rapidly changing, and increasingly complex. How are we closing the gap between design intent and user experience? Through combined thinking, research-based design has expanded to understand and improve the experience within healthcare spaces. For some patients, design can succeed where drugs may fail. For clinicians, the built environment can support and improve efficient care delivery. Healthcare innovation can occur where architecture and medicine meet.
Conference Presentations
Event: The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) – Congress, Salk Institute, CA
Title: Clinicians for Design: A Convergence of Expertise to Enhance Cognition and Healthcare Design How Architecture Impacts our Health
Format: Poster presentation
Authors: Eve Edelstein, Diana Anderson, Thomas Grey, Desmond O’Neill
Date: September 20-22, 2018
Dochitect participates in a Poster Presentation at The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture 2018!
ABSTRACT:
Background:
Increasingly, clinicians are asking not only for the architect’s perspective, but to develop a design skill-set and knowledge base that will allow them to help shape the future of hospitals, medicine, and healthcare.
Purpose/Objectives:
Clinicians for Design is an international network of clinicians and researchers with a vision to inspire and accelerate the design of environments that enhance health outcomes through innovations in healthcare spaces, technologies, care delivery systems and policies (1). The inaugural Clinicians for Design workshop was hosted at the Royal College of Physicians, during the European Healthcare Design conference, London, UK in June, 2017. Thereafter, workshops and research activities with hospitals and academic medical centers are exploring key lessons learned from the clinicians, healthcare system leaders, and medical researchers. Specific objectives include the application of research to improve practice, meetings to increase clinician understanding of the architectural process, and integration of clinical expertise with design-thinking.
Methods/Results:
As ‘neuro-architectural’ research converges with clinically-informed design, it has inspired the emergence of new models of practice for dementia care. A network of like-minded clinicians, neuroscientists, and a team of geriatricians and designers have formed an alliance to enable a deeper understanding of the elements which contribute to dementia-inclusive design in healthcare facilities. A leading cause of institutionalization for those with dementia is often spatial disorientation (2). Absence of cognitive mapping in dementia can be partially compensated for by using other forms of orientation strategies (3). Therefore, the design of healthcare facilities can significantly influence one’s spatial orientation and wayfinding abilities (4). This grant funded study aims to develop a ‘Design Audit Tool’ in line with Dementia-Inclusive Design Guidelines, ensuring equality across healthcare users (5). The goal is for inclusive, accessible, and easily understood environmental design for people with dementia, based on neurological and architectural research.
Implications:
Clinicians and designers discuss their progress in identifying dementia care pathways and research outcomes using a transdisciplinary approach. The advances towards a dementia inclusive healthcare audit tool is described, including the role of experts and emerging professionals in medicine, research, and design who seek an enduring connection between clinical practice and architecture.
REFERENCES:
(1) Anderson DC, Pang SA, Edelstein EA, O’Neill D. The Convergence of Architectural Design and Health: Clinicians for Design. The Lancet. 2018. Unpublished [Submitted, under review].
(2) Monacelli AM, Cushman LA, Kavcic V, Duffy CJ. Spatial disorientation in Alzheimer‘s disease: The remembrance of things passed. Neurology. 2003 Dec 9;61(11):1491-7.
(3) Poettrich K, Weiss PH, Werner A, Lux S, Donix M, Gerber J, von Kummer R, Fink GR, Holthoff VA. Altered neural network supporting declarative long-term memory in mild cognitive impairment. Neurobiol Aging. 2009 Feb;30(2):284-98. Epub 2007 Jul 17.
(4) Marquardt G. Wayfinding for people with dementia: a review of the role of architectural design. HERD. 2011 Winter;4(2):75-90.
(5) De Suin A, O’Shea E, Timmons S, McArdle D, Gibbons P, O’Neill D, Kenneally SP, Gallagher P. Irish National Audit of Dementia Care in Acute Hospitals. Cork: National Audit of Dementia Care. 2014.
Podcast: PeersSpectrum Podcast
Title: Extreme Makeover: Hospital Edition. Physician & Architect, Dr. Diana Anderson
Date: September 18, 2018
Dochitect is featured by PeerSpectrum Podcast!
What is PeerSpectrum? “The practice of modern medicine is rapidly changing, and increasingly complex. Finance, negotiation, communication, technology, personal branding and data analytics are just some of the “non-medical” skills now required of modern physicians. Simply keeping up isn’t enough. Going it alone won’t cut it either. Staying ahead requires the help of specialized experts who can be resources for your practice. This is the podcast to find those experts, both inside and outside of medicine. Turn your downtime into up-time and recharge with incredible stories and unique perspectives from your entire spectrum of peers.”
You can find the podcast on iTunes, and the PeerSpectrum website (along with other platforms like Google Play and Sticher)
Podcasts