DEEP SCOPE: A Framework for Safe Healthcare Design.

Area of Science:

• Patient safety science
• Healthcare facility design
• Human factors and ergonomics (HF/E)

Background:

• Patient safety thinking has evolved from simple accident models to complex systems design.
• The built environment's role in supporting patient safety has been historically underemphasized.
• Adverse events in healthcare are increasingly viewed as systemic issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore healthcare harm as a systems problem through proactive facility design.
• To develop a theoretical framework for mitigating adverse events via healthcare facility design.
• To integrate human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) principles into healthcare facility design.

Main Methods:

• Reviewing the evolution of safety science and patient safety thinking.
• Utilizing a case study on patient falls to illustrate the framework.
• Expanding the SCOPE (Safety as Complexity of the Organization, People, and Environment) model.
• Developing the DEEP SCOPE (DEsigning with Ergonomic Principles) matrix.

Main Results:

• The DEEP SCOPE matrix synthesizes design interventions into a systems-based model.
• The framework highlights healthcare facility design as an ergonomic problem.
• It emphasizes fitting the built environment to the user to support the 'human' factor.

Conclusions:

• Proactive healthcare facility design, guided by HF/E principles, can significantly reduce patient harm.
• The DEEP SCOPE model provides a novel approach to systems-based healthcare design.
• Understanding built environments is crucial for optimizing patient safety through ergonomic design.