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Supportive or Hindering Physical Environments in Hospital Units Dealing With COVID-19 Patients
1Department of Housing & Interior Design, Age Tech-Convergence Major, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea.
Purpose:
This project was designed to discover how hospital units with COVID-19 patients influenced staff's medical practices and health conditions.
Background:
Although hospital environments have well-known associations with health outcomes, findings are limited in demonstrating the role of physical environments during a global pandemic.
Methods:
A cross-sectional survey study was conducted from three units in a university hospital and a total of 113 staff participated. They rated the impact of physical environments on staff members' medical practice and their health conditions before and mid-pandemic. They also specified physical changes, hindering and helpful features, and future improvements in open-ended questions.
Results:
The perceived supportiveness of the physical environments on communication significantly dropped from before-pandemic to midpandemic, followed by mental health and feeling of connection and engagement. Separating COVID-19 patients helped staff workflow, but staff felt disconnected and had poor visibility.
Conclusion:
Based on painful lessons, interdisciplinary researchers, including healthcare professionals, designers, and administrators, should further collaborate to create supportive hospital environments.
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