The first quarter issue of the Patient-Centered Design Online Newsletter is up and features an article on Lean design for healthcare. I’ve often wondered what Lean Design is. It is a derivative of manufacturing experience, specifically that of the Toyota Production System (TPS). According to Tammy S. Thompson: “Lean design is a system that focuses on … Continue reading »
The Therapeutic Landscapes Network has linked to a Call for Papers: The Architecture of the Psychiatric Milieu for the peer review journal Facilities. From the post: Facilities for psychiatric care have a tradition of standardization in design and treatment dating back to the moral treatment paradigm of the 1850s. As normative approaches to psychiatric care … Continue reading »
The other day Daily Planet presented a segment on a lab that studies the effects of unique planning conditions on the body. The iDAPT Centre for Rehabilitation Research in Toronto consists of 12 cutting-edge labs, workshops, and other reasearch spaces to safely study how adults, specifically those with disabilities, interact with their environment. Inside this lab, they have … Continue reading »
Update: Here is the presentation I received via email after the lecture, courtesy of Ted Kesik, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design – University of Toronto. It’s a PDF, so it loses some of the text between the transitions, but that’s better than no presentation at all. Click on the link below to see the … Continue reading »
The University of Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design has a lecture series every year and I attended Wednesday night’s lecture on the Hospital of the Future, by Dr. Ernesto Morales, a researcher from L’Insitut Universitaire de Geriatrie de Montreal (IUGM). Dr. Morales was recently invited to participate in a project with the Research Centre … Continue reading »
I’m back from my recent hiatus and planning to post more frequently. A friend sent me a link to an article from the Toronto Star, reporting how real time brain scans create distorted images of what people are actually watching at that moment. Its kind of amazing. Though the representation is uncannily accurate, I’m struck more … Continue reading »
Last month, I wrote my thoughts on Sunnybrook Hospital’s new NICU parent coordinator. Kate Robson, the Sunnybrook Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parent Coordinator, responded to my question: … is there a way of minimizing the feel of the breathing machines and tubes, and interjecting some life from outside those stabilizing entities? She gave me a link (Thank You!!!) … Continue reading »
I was looking through some old articles I bookmarked for later reading and found this one, about a person hired to help families navigate the difficult world of Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). While the article presents the job description of a person hired specifically to coordinate families as they deal with premature babies, it … Continue reading »
Yesterday, an article caught my attention in the Toronto Star; a study done at John Hopkins Hospital found more bacteria in hands-free faucet models than in manual ones. The electronic faucets have been replaced. I find this study fascinating. According to the article: “the bacteria is able to grow in this one style of faucet because … Continue reading »
An architect I know called Evidence-Based Design just another buzzword term, like Integrated Design (ID). While Integrated Design is not such a term, the architect believed ID was good practice, and a good architect always involves consultants right from the start of design. He believed ID was a buzzword because it’s a term used to … Continue reading »
