Medical Construction & Design

SEP-OCT 2017

Medical Construction & Design (MCD) is the industry's leading source for news and information and reaches all disciplines involved in the healthcare construction and design process.

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48 Medical Construction & Design | SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2017 | MCDM AG.COM Like the overall healthcare landscape, the world of palliative care has been experiencing rapid growth and changes in methodologies of patient care. This trend is building as the aging population and the number of Americans living with serious illnesses increase at an ever-accelerating pace. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, hospice use has surged, with 1.5 million Americans receiving hospice care in 2013, compared with 246,000 in 1994. Why not then design uplifting spaces where patients can fi nd joy despite their life-limiting illnesses, even if it's in small ways? Design of the physical environment can ease the patient's pain and lessen the suff ering of the patient's family, helping create the conditions for more comfortable end-of-life- experiences. It can also alleviate the burden placed on the palliative care community — the doctors, nurses and caregivers that manage the care of patients with serious illness and short life expectancies (typically six months or less). When the process of dying happens in a natural way, there is an extended period of time (days, weeks or months) in which all participants must be Li Li ke ke t he he o ve ve ra ra ll ll h ea ea lt lt hc hc ar ar e la la nd nd sc sc ap ap e, in in s ma ma ll ll w ay ay s? s? D es es ig ig n of of t he he p hy hy si si ca l Comfort 1st Modern approaches to redesigning the hospice experience BY DR. ELLEN A. BASSETT & CHARLES RIZZA

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