ICU helps in building healing environment

In an article that first appeared in the The Australian Hospital Engineer, the monthly magazine of the Institute of Hospital Engineering Australia, Arup's Dr Gerard Healey examines the design and construction of a new intensive care unit (ICU) at Melbourne's Alfred Hospital in Victoria, Australia. Two of the project's key goals, and indeed major design drivers, were to reduce to the absolute minimum the risk of hospital-acquired infection, and to provide an environment that 'intentionally fosters staff and patient well-being, rather than just housing staff and patients'.