Person:

Zimring, Craig

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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/71897

Associated Organization(s)

Organizational Unit

School of Architecture

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 30

Designing for Effective and Safe Multidisciplinary Primary Care Teamwork: Using the Time of COVID-19 as a Case Study

( 2021-08) Lim, Lisa ; Zimring, Craig ; DuBose, Jennifer R. ; Lee, Jaehoon ; Stroebel, Robert J. ; Matthews, Marc R.

Effective medical teamwork can improve the effectiveness and experience of care for staff and patients, including safety. Healthcare organizations, and especially primary care clinics, have sought to improve medical teamwork through improved layout and design, moving staff into shared multidisciplinary team rooms. While co-locating staff has been shown to increase communi-cation, successful designs balance four teamwork needs: face-to-face communications; situational awareness; heads-down work; perception of teamness. However, precautions for COVID-19 make it more difficult to conduct face-to-face communications. In this paper we describe a model for un-derstanding how layout affects these four teamwork needs and describe how the perception of teamwork by staff changed after COVID-19 precautions were put in place. Observations, interviews and two standard surveys were conducted in two primary care clinics before COVID-19 and again in 2021 after a year of precautions. In general, staff felt more isolated and found it more difficult to conduct brief consults, though these perceptions varied by role. RNs, who spent more time on the phone, found it convenient to work part time-from home, while medical assistants found it more difficult to find providers in the distanced clinics. These cases suggest some important considera-tions for future clinic designs, including greater physical transparency that also allow for physical separation and more spaces for informal communication that are distanced from workstations.
Lighting the patient room of the future: Evaluating different lighting conditions from the patient perspective

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021) DuBose, Jennifer R. ; Davis, Robert G. ; Campiglia, Gabrielle ; Wilkerson, Andrea ; Zimring, Craig

This study explores whether “future” lighting systems that provide greater control and opportunity for circadian synchronization are acceptable to participants in the role of patients.Tunable, dimmable light emitting diode(LED)systems provide multiple potential benefits for healthcare. They can provide significant energy savings, support circadian synchronization by varying the spectrum and intensity of light over the course of the day, address nighttime navigation needs, and provide user-friendly control. There is an emerging understanding of the important visual and non-visual effects of light,however, important questions remain about the experience and acceptability of this “future” lighting if we are to adopt it broadly.
The Representational Function of Clinic Design: Staff and Patient Perceptions of Teamwork

( 2020-09-15) Lim, Lisa ; Kanfer, Ruth ; Stroebel, Robert J. ; Zimring, Craig

This study empirically investigates the relationships between visibility attributes and both patients’ and staff members’ teamwork experiences. Teamwork among healthcare professionals is critical for the safety and quality of patient care. While a patient-centered, team-based care approach is promoted in primary care clinics, little is known about how clinic layouts can support the teamwork experiences of staff and patients in team-based primary clinics.
Beyond Co-location: Visual Connections of Staff Workstations and Staff Communication in Primary Care Clinics

( 2020-08) Lim, Lisa ; Kanfer, Ruth ; Stroebel, Robert J. ; Zimring, Craig

The importance of communication among healthcare providers has been long recognized, and many healthcare organizations are implementing team-based care, with emphasis on staff communication. While previous empirical studies in various settings illustrate the role of built environments in user communication, there is a lack of quantified interpersonal spatial metrics to predict interactions. This study investigates how interpersonal spatial metrics at different scales predict staff communication patterns by empirically studying four primary care clinics that provide team-based care. We found that staff members in clinics with higher visual connections among staff members reported more timely and frequent communication. We also found that staff members talked to each other more frequently when their workstations were visually connected. The findings of this study are expected to help designers and facility managers provide well-designed team-based clinic layouts, beyond just shared work spaces for team members, for improved staff communication.
Backstage Staff Communication: The Effects of Different Levels of Visual Exposure to Patients

( 2019-11-21) Lim, Lisa ; Kanfer, Ruth ; Stroebel, Robert J. ; Zimring, Craig

Objective: This article examines how visual exposure to patients predicts patient-related communication among staff members. Background: Communication among healthcare professionals private from patients, or backstage communication, is critical for staff teamwork and patient care. While patients and visitors are a core group of users in healthcare settings, not much attention has been given to how patients' presence impacts staff communication. Furthermore, many healthcare facilities provide team spaces for improved staff teamwork, but the privacy levels of team areas significantly vary. Method: This article presents an empirical study of four team-based primary care clinics where staff communication and teamwork are important. Visual exposure levels of the clinics were analyzed, and their relationships to staff members' concerns for having backstage communication, including preferred and nonpreferred locations for backstage communication, were investigated. Results: Staff members in clinics with less visual exposure to patients reported lower concerns about having backstage communication. Staff members preferred talking in team areas that were visually less exposed to patients in the clinic, but, within team areas, the level of visual exposure did not matter. On the other hand, staff members did not prefer talking in visually exposed areas such as corridors in the clinic and visually exposed areas within team spaces. Conclusions: Staff members preferred talking in team areas, and they did not prefer talking in visually exposed areas. These findings identified visually exposed team areas as a potentially uncomfortable environment, with a lack of agreement between staff members' preferences toward where they had patient-related communication.
MCG critical care 3 west evaluation

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-06-09) Zimring, Craig
Walking on campus: correlates and web tools

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-08-31) Zimring, Craig
The Business Case for Building Better Hospitals Through Evidence-Based Design

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008) Zimring, Craig ; Sadler, Blair L. ; DuBose, Jennifer Robin

Purpose: After establishing the connection between building well-designed evidence-based facilities and improved safety and quality for patients, families, and staff, this article presents the compelling business case for doing so. It demonstrates why ongoing operating savings and initial capital costs must be analyzed and describes specific steps to ensure that design innovations are implemented effectively. Background: Hospital leaders and boards are now beginning to face a new reality: They can no longer tolerate preventable hospital-acquired conditions such as infections, falls, and injuries to staff or unnecessary intra-hospital patient transfers that can increase errors. Nor can they subject patients and families to noisy, confusing environments that increase anxiety and stress. They must effectively deploy all reasonable quality improvement techniques available. To be optimally effective, a variety of tactics must be combined and implemented in an integrated way. Hospital leadership must understand the clear connection between building well-designed healing environments and improved healthcare safety and quality for patients, families, and staff, as well as the compelling business case for doing so. Emerging pay-for-performance (P4P) methodologies that reward hospitals for quality and refuse to pay hospitals for the harm they cause (e.g., infections and falls) further strengthen this business case. Recommendations: When planning to build a new hospital or to renovate an existing facility, healthcare leaders should address a key question: Will the proposed project incorporate all relevant and proven evidence-based design innovations to optimize patient safety, quality, and satisfaction as well as workforce safety, satisfaction, productivity, and energy efficiency? When conducting a business case analysis for a new project, hospital leaders should consider ongoing operating savings and the market share impact of evidence-based design interventions as well as initial capital costs. They should consider taking the 10 steps recommended to ensure an optimal, cost-effective hospital environment. A return-on-investment (ROI) framework is put forward for the use of individual organizations.
A Review of the Research Literature on Evidence-Based Healthcare Design

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008) Ulrich, Roger S. ; Zimring, Craig ; Zhu, Xuemei ; DuBose, Jennifer R. ; Seo, Hyun-Bo ; Choi, Young-Seon ; Quan, Xiaobo ; Joseph, Anjali

This report surveys and evaluates the scientific research on evidence-based healthcare design and extracts its implications for designing better and safer hospitals.
A Review of the Research Literature on Evidence-Based Healthcare Design

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008) Ulrich, Roger S. ; Zimring, Craig ; Zhu, Xuemei ; DuBose, Jennifer Robin ; Seo, Hyun-Bo ; Choi, Young-Seon ; Quan, Xiaobo ; Joseph, Anjali

Objective: This report surveys and evaluates the scientific research on evidence-based healthcare design and extracts its implications for designing better and safer hospitals. Background: It builds on a literature review conducted by researchers in 2004. Methods: Research teams conducted a new and more exhaustive search for rigorous empirical studies that link the design of hospital physical environments with healthcare outcomes. The review followed a two-step process, including an extensive search for existing literature and a screening of each identified study for the relevance and quality of evidence. Results: This review found a growing body of rigorous studies to guide healthcare design, especially with respect to reducing the frequency of hospital-acquired infections. Results are organized according to three general types of outcomes: patient safety, other patient outcomes, and staff outcomes. The findings further support the importance of improving outcomes for a range of design characteristics or interventions, including single-bed rooms rather than multibed rooms, effective ventilation systems, a good acoustic environment, nature distractions and daylight, appropriate lighting, better ergonomic design, acuity-adaptable rooms, and improved floor layouts and work settings. Directions for future research are also identified. Conclusions: The state of knowledge of evidence-based healthcare design has grown rapidly in recent years. The evidence indicates that well-designed physical settings play an important role in making hospitals safer and more healing for patients, and better places for staff to work. Key Words: Evidence-based design, hospital design, healthcare design, healthcare quality, outcomes, patient safety, staff safety, infection, hand washing, medical errors, falls, pain, sleep, stress, depression, confidentiality, social support, satisfaction, single rooms, noise, nature, daylight