Hospitals and Spacing (essay)

Rayana White

Professor Rowley

English 114B

14 March 2012

Hospitals and Spacing

What comes to mind when you think about the hospital? Are you excited when you have to take a trip there? When someone has to visit the hospital, it is most likely not for a good reason. Since many people dread the hospital and what goes on there, it is a good idea to make them feel as relaxed, safe and comfortable as possible. Creating a comfortable and well organized environment can be executed through using the appropriate spacing and design. Specific spacing and design can improve people’s view of a hospital, its actual appearance, and responses and recoveries from patients. Great spacing and specific organization can ensure quality performance from staff and satisfaction for patients. The hospital plays a huge role in our society and it is very important that they execute their tasks to the best of their ability to lead the public to believe that they have a reliable place where they can receive the proper care when necessary. The hospital is a health care institution that provides patients with the service and care that they need in order to regain all means of good health. In addition to meeting all of their patients’ needs, the hospital must create a comfortable environment and be highly aware of spacing, design and organization to ensure a well functioning society. The appropriate spacing, design and organization can help keep the hospital in order, assist in providing the proper care and make patients feel at home.

Space is an aspect that has many effects on the people and things occupying it. Space develops a relationship with the things around it. It is often overlooked, but it is very important to the world. Spacing affects allocation, communication and responses, and how people feel, act and behave in a certain place. These affects emphasize that the quality of space is more important than the quantity of space. These are multiple types of spaces that satisfy people’s needs and affect their behavior. Oscar Newman adds to argument in Human Behavior and Housing when he says, “defensible space […] includes public, semipublic, semiprivate, and private territories (1972)” (3). All of these spaces are territorial areas that meet the certain needs of a person. Semipublic spaces are areas that are publicly owned, semiprivate includes yards or spaces owned by association. Private space is the interior of an area. These areas are spaced and designed like this for the specific reason that people require different amounts of space and privacy.

When it comes down to designing and organizing a hospital it is essential to remember that staff and patients need a certain amount of space for themselves in order to have a well functioning society. The hospital is such a critical place and that is why every little thing matters there. To have a safe and organized environment the hospital must separate things and place buildings, rooms and supplies in the appropriate place. Hospitals are organized by the type of care and amount of attention patients require. In A to Z of Hospital Departments, Dr. Roger Henderson supports the idea of hospital organization. He states the different departments as being, “ Emergency Room, Anesthetics, Cardiology, ICU (Intensive Care Unit), Diagnostic Surgery, Gynecology, Hematology, Maternity Department, Microbiology, Neonatal Unit, Neurology, Nutrition and Dietetics, Occupational therapy, Oncology, Orthopedics, Pharmacy, Radiotherapy, Rheumatology, Sexual Health, Pediatrics, Urology, Radiology and much more. Each department tends to be overseen by consultants in that specialty with a team of junior medical staff under them who are also interested in that specialty.” This separation allows specialists to perform to the best of their ability without distractions from other departments. Having different assigned for specific cares is a factor that ensures that patients feel at home and receive all the attention they need in order to feel better. This demonstrates how spacing, design and organization can contribute to a perfect society and the well-being of the hospital staff and patients.

Along with the organization of the hospital, the interior design also affects the people in the area. Things such as lighting, color, storage, furniture, privacy, and cleanliness can affect how patients feel and how fast they recover. Patients should be mentally and physically comfortable while at the hospital and these things can help. In Healing by Design, C. Robert Horsburg says that, “The quality of space in such buildings affects the outcome of medical care, and architectural design is thus an important part of the healing process.” I agree that the quality of a space is way more important than the quantity. The quality of a hospital can definitely affect the way patients heal. Joseph Anjali and Rashid Mahhub add to the argument in The architecture of safety: hospital design, when they say, “Features of hospital design that are linked to patient safety in the literature include noise, air quality, lighting conditions, patient room design, unit layout, and several other interior design features. Some of these features act as latent conditions for adverse events, and impact safety outcomes directly and indirectly by impacting staff working conditions. Others act as barriers to adverse events by providing hospital staff with opportunities for preventing accidents before they occur. ” This shows that every little simple thing affects patients in a hospital. Staff should make sure that they pay close attention to these things to keep the patients and themselves safe and happy.

Although all of these things can help patients recover and heal quicker, one may argue that there is no way that the spacing, design and organization can make a patient feel better about being at a hospital. They are there for a reason and there is no sugar coating it. Hospitals are a place where sick people who need help go. They have a problem and spacing would only work as a distraction for them, but in reality they are still sick. Medicine and care is what makes them heal and recover, not spacing, organization and design.

Overall spacing is important because it affects a location, communication and responses and the way people act, feel and behavior. The benefits of spacing, organization and design all come into play when building an association. The hospital is a prime example of how these things can improve the quality of an environment. Staff performance and patient recovery are proof that spacing does affect a society. When designing an association it is important to consider everybody’s privacy and likings to make sure that everyone is satisfied and comfortable.

Works Cited

Whitehouse S., Varni J.W., Seid M., Cooper-Marcus C., Ensberg M.J., Jacobs J.R., Mehlenbeck R.S.

Evaluating a children's hospital garden environment: Utilization and consumer satisfaction

(2001) Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21 (3), pp. 301-314. Anjalia, Joseph, and Rashid Mahbubb. "The Architecture of Safety:hospital Design:Current Opinion in Critical Care." Current Opinion in Critical Care: Volume 13.Issue 6 (2007): 714-19. Web. Horsburgh, Robert C. Healing in Design. Web. Henderson, Roger. "A to Z of Hospital Departments." Netdoctor. Web. 15 Mar. 2012.