Healthcare premises: reflections on sound by hospital staff Children crying. Alarms beeping. Verbal communication. Footsteps. Healthcare premises are often complex sound environments and the cognitive load on staff is getting more and more challenging. Despite this, nurses and doctors rarely complain if the acoustics are not suitable for the activities – because their number one […]
Healthcare
Noise and premature babies
Premature babies vulnerable “Premature babies, with their growing brains, are especially sensitive to loud noises. In spite of this, neonatal units often generate a great deal of loud noise from equipment, alarms, and adult voices. And incubator vibrates like a drum, reinforcing sounds from outside,” explains Dr. Johannes Van den Berg, a neonatal nursing specialist. […]
Healing environment in The Meander Medical Centre
The Meander Medical Centre in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, was built entirely according to healing environment principles. The recently opened Meander Medical Centre in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, was built entirely according to these principles. The layout and design of this hospital are intended to facilitate much-needed rest and promote the recovery process. At a recent seminar […]
A healing environment for violent offenders
Violent offenders From the outside, Helix looks like a modern office complex on a hill nestled amid beautiful, unspoiled scenery. From the large windows of the patients’ rooms, you can gaze out for miles over a panorama of spruce and pine forests. Helix, opened in December 2012, is a forensic psychiatric care facility. Many of […]
ECO Magazine – publishing prize finalist!
ECO magazine, dedicated to sound environments in healthcare, has been recognized in Sweden’s longest-running comprehensive communication competition. Competing in the category of Digital Magazine, ECO magazine is up against five other nominees. The jury will judge the entire product, not just the design and the winners are announced at a gala event in Stockholm on […]
Healing in the Jungle
The Jungle Happiness is a great healer. We want the stay in a hospital to be a fun and exciting experience for the kids,” explains Tomas Gedda, Head of fundraising at the Foundation for Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital in Gothenburg. Four years have now passed since Tomas Gedda embarked on the successful healing jungle rooms […]
5 questions about tinnitus & what you can do
We interviewed Eimear O’Carroll, from Restored Hearing about what it’s like to live with tinnitus and how indoor environments can support people with tinnitus. She has been working together with business partner Rhona Togher on hearing problems for almost 10 years now. The young entrepreneurs both studied physics and use their training to create products to help people with impaired […]
What it sounds like to be an acute patient
Acute patients The healthcare world is filled with noise; alarms, people chatting, cleaners pushing carts and much more. It becomes so familiar that staff doesn’t even think about it, repressing it becomes second nature. So it may be easy to forget that the patient is probably having a completely different experience. Especially an acute patient […]
Serene low-risk births in Birmingham
Low-risk “Given the difficulty of communicating with some of our patients, it was important to create an environment where they could feel safe and supported by our midwives,” says Paul Scott, capital projects manager at the City Hospital in Birmingham. The Serenity Midwifery Birth Centre provides low-risk women with a tranquil, state-of-the-art place to give birth. “It was an […]
Communication a key issue in Emergency units
Communication Stress levels run high in the emergency department. Mistakes are unacceptable. Patients’ lives depend on the skill and focus of the emergency medical team. Clear, precise communication is invaluable, so the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein in Lübeck, Germany, decided to create the optimum conditions for it. Patients’ lives depend on the skill and focus […]
