CATEGORY

Using design details to improve today's health care-an inspiring, comprehensive guide

As Cynthia Leibrock writes in the Preface, "The power of a healing environment comes from the little things, the design details that empower patients to take responsibility for their own health." In Design Details for Health, she offers specific design details that can improve patient outcomes by returning authority to the patient, along with fascinating case studies and research demonstrating the positive role design details can play in reducing healthcare costs. Practical and inspiring, this innovative book is essential reading for architects, interior designers, facility managers, and healthcare professionals.

Attention to detail is the cornerstone of success in virtually every enterprise. This is especially true in the field of healthcare design, where design details can have a profound impact on the quality and efficacy of care.

In Design Details for Health, Cynthia Leibrock gives designers and other industry professionals specific examples showing how design details can offer patients greater comfort and independencewhile also giving healthcare facilities a competitive edge-saving staff time, cutting overhead costs, and reducing liability.

With the help of nearly 200 images, many in full color, she offers flexible, innovative design solutions in key areas such as lighting, acoustics, color, furnishings, and finishes. From acute carehospitals to specialized ambulatory care and home treatment settings, she addresses a variety of healthcare environments and includes inspiring case studies that reveal how effective design details work in the real world.

Throughout the book, Cynthia Leibrock presents findings from the cutting edge of design research-including results published here for the first time-reflecting the experience and expertise of hundreds of healthcare designers and architects in the United States and abroad. Covering topics ranging from acoustics to lighting, this valuable data includes citations for further reference.

When design empowers rather than disables, everybody wins. Sensitive to the needs of both patients and the providers that serve them, Design Details for Health is essential reading for today's architects, interior designers, facility managers, and healthcare professionals involved in commercial and residential healthcare facilities.

". . . this book is a reference standard with timeless value." -Wayne Ruga, Founder, The National Symposium on Healthcare Design