Extra large private hospital rooms with plenty of natural light and artwork may seem like unaffordable luxuries, but new research shows that these and other architecture and design features can improve patient care and in the long run reduce health care expenses. They are among the elements of the “Fable hospital,” an ideal health care facility as conceived and analyzed by leaders in health care and design. Elements of the Fable hospital are being adopted on the ground today, with the imperative to improve quality and value.

A set of articles in the Hastings Center Report examines the state of the evidence for these design features, looks inside two hospitals that put some of these innovations into practice, and considers how design fits into the moral mission of health care. The lead article can be downloaded for free. To order the articles, please contact John Wiley & Sons customer support at 800-835-6770 or cs-journals@wiley.com.

 

Table of Contents

 

Fable Hospital 2.0: The Business Case for Building Better Health Care Facilities
Blair L. Sadler, Leonard L. Berry, Robin Guenther, D. Kirk Hamilton, Frederick A. Hessler, Clayton Merritt, and Derek Parker

Case Study: Dublin Methodist Hospital
Cheryl Herbert

Case Study: Sacred Heart Medical Center
Alan Yordy

Values Engineering: The Ethics of Design in Community Health Centers
Benjamin Boltin and Nancy Berlinger