Collaboration during design, as construction is undertaken, and as buildings are routinely operated, gives us the best chance for improvement in the hospital environment as we strive to provide an infection-free place for patient care. This collaboration between design professionals and healthcare and infection control professionals will result in safer and more comforting healthcare facilities.
Inherently healthy hospital design should accomplish at least these two key objectives:
-
Design buildings that support active infection control practices; and
-
Remove sources of infection from the built environment by careful, thoughtful design decision-making.
The Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health Care Facilities state, “The healthcare facility environment is rarely implicated in disease transmission, except among patients who are immune-compromised,”1 but a more recent Journal of Hospital Infection article poses a different view. The authors point out the importance of aligning the design of a hospital to infection control principles. “Although the contribution of the environment to hospital-acquired infections may be unresolved, few would disagree that hospital design is of paramount importance as a means of preventative medicine.” 2 The authors make clear recommendations:
-
Involve all relevant professionals on the team;
-
Use scientific knowledge and experience gained to guide decisions; and
-
Have infection control involved at each stage of planning, programming, design, and construction.
