healthcare design

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

IC4HD interviews: Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, HealthCare Design Magazine

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, Editor-in-Chief at Healthcare Design Magazine, gives IC4HD her point of view about healthcare design industry and future trends.

Healthcare Design magazine, its website, and its live events (including HCD Expo + Conference), are collectively the industry’s best source of information, insight, and motivation for the creation of healthcare spaces that promote healing, support clinician and staff workflows, and contribute to a healthcare system’s bottom line.

What is your pulse on the healthcare design industry at the moment?

The healthcare design industry has spent the past year deeply involved in the response to COVID-19, partnering with healthcare providers to identify/modify spaces to support patient surge, create testing and triage sites, rethink entry sequences and support social distancing, and integrate design and environmental solutions that allow facilities to remain open and safe. However, through it all, new healthcare construction projects were still in progress and, thankfully, we haven’t heard of many significant delays or cancellations. Our sense is that the industry remains strong and optimistic for the future. Healthcare design will certainly change after this, and our industry is ready to help providers navigate what’s to come.

 

In presence vs virtual events: what are your feelings about the opportunities of these different ways?

The ability to hold virtual events in absence of in-person gatherings has been a lifesaver for this industry. Even as we grow weary of Zoom meetings, the ability to connect with others and interact in real time is invaluable. This new normal has challenged event producers like EmeraldX to rethink how we traditionally create and share content, connect industry members, and showcase new products and services. What we’ve realized along the way is that virtual platforms allow us to reach new people and engage with the industry in an entirely new way. And so we anticipate an opportunity for both in-person and virtual channels to exist and demand for hybrid events to grow.
But with that said, no matter how good a virtual event, you can’t replace the magic of being together physically — there are some human experiences you just can’t replicate via technology. Touching and testing products first-hand cannot be fully reproduced online, and our buyers miss that. We’re hearing from both attendees and exhibitors that they are incredibly eager to get back to this kind of interaction this fall.

 

Can you identify any particular trend that has become increasingly important in healthcare projects due to Covid emergency?

One lesson that’s emerged from this crisis is the importance of having flexible and adaptable spaces in healthcare facilities. It’s not necessarily a new topic for the design industry, but the value of such solutions has now been proven. Hospitals and other settings that were able to quickly modify their spaces to accommodate patient surge or introduce heightened infection control initiatives benefited from existing infrastructure and architecture that allowed it. While another event at the scale of COVID-19 may not occur again within the lifespan of a healthcare facility being built/renovated today, these principles will be critical to managing similar crises, such as mass-casualty incidents, natural disasters, seasonal spikes in volume such as flu season, and other epidemic or pandemic scenarios. We anticipate healthcare organizations will make it a priority to invest in flexible/adaptable solutions on projects going forward.

 

 

Italian Contract 4 Hospitality Design, besides coordinating the participation to Healthcare Design Expo+Conference (Cleveland, OH, October 23 to 26, 2021), creates connections between Italian companies and the professionals of healthcare design sector in the US. To read the series of IC4HD interviews, follow IC4HD interviews

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Kevin Gaffney

IC4HD interviews: Kevin Gaffney, EmeraldX Group Show Director

Kevin Gaffney

Kevin Gaffney, Vice President and Group Show Director at EmeraldX, has a quite optimistic vision towards the Hospitality Design Expo+Conference to be held on August 24 and 25, 2021 at Mandalaty Bay, Las Vegas (NV). He has released an exclusive interview to IC4HD talking about his pulse on the industry.

What is your pulse on the hospitality design industry at the moment?

With the vaccine now rolling out there is a keen sense of optimism that we have not seen as strongly before now. It gives us great hope for staging a great HD Expo event in August.

 

In presence vs virtual events: what are your feelings about the opportunities of these different ways?

Our virtual focus has been on educational content delivery which has been well received, however our audience is eager to return to live opportunities. A virtual tradeshows is not something we would focus on for HD Expo and are planning for a return to a live tradeshow in August.

 

Are companies and architectural firms inclined to come back and meet to live expos and conferences for 2021?

Yes, our audience is very eager to come together. Each company will have to determine internally what works for them however we will have extensive health & safety protocols in place to ensure our attendees comfort and safety. EmeraldX is rolling out a comprehensive safety plan for each show and we will work in concert with Las Vegas and Mandalay Bay Convention Center to make sure it’s safe to allow our exhibitors and audience to focus on getting back to business.

 

Is there any common point between hospitality and healthcare industry new trends?

There is definitely a crossover between hospitality and healthcare. Hotels have had to implement new levels of cleaning and air filtration that they never had before, and as a result, many hotels looked to healthcare protocols for inspiration (and Hilton even partnered with the Mayo Clinic). Many healthcare facilities are looking to hospitality designers to make hospitals more hospitable, in terms of lounges, restaurants, public spaces. And at the same time, many new wellness clubs and concepts are popping up across the country, which bridge the gap between preventive medicine and spas.

 

 

Italian Contract 4 Hospitality Design coordinates the participation of Italian companies and institutions to international events for hospitality and contract design. Discover where to meet us and read the series of IC4HD interviews

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Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

IC4HD intervista Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, HealthCare Design Magazine

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, Editor-in-Chief di Healthcare Design Magazine, ha rilasciato un’interessante intervista a IC4HD. Le sue risposte danno un quadro davvero preciso sulla situazione del settore healthcare negli USA e sulle prospettive future.

HealthCare Design Magazine è una fonte autorevole per i professionisti dell’healthcare design e fornisce aggiornamenti e approfondimenti su come il design influisca direttamente su sicurezza, operatività, risultati clinici e successo finanziario delle strutture sanitarie.

Qual è il suo punto di vista sull’healthcare design al momento?

I professionisti del design per l’healthcare sono stati molto coinvolti durante l’anno appena trascorso per trovare soluzioni in partnership con le strutture sanitarie. Le sfide principali hanno riguardato principalmente l’individuazione o la modifica di spazi per affrontare il picco di afflusso di pazienti, la creazione di aree di test e di triage, lo studio dei flussi di entrata e uscita per garantire il distanziamento, nonché lo sviluppo di soluzioni che permettessero alle strutture di rimanere aperte e sicure. Nonostante questo grande impegno, i progetti per le nuove costruzioni di strutture sanitarie sono andati avanti e non mi risulta ci siano state grandi cancellazioni o rinvii.
La sensazione è che l’industria sia rimasta forte e ottimista. Il design in ambito healthcare certamente subirà dei cambiamenti e noi siamo pronti a tracciare la rotta delle nuove tendenze.

 

Eventi in presenza vs eventi virtuali: quali sono le sfide e le opportunità di queste due possibilità?

La possibilità di connettersi virtualmente in mancanza degli eventi in presenza è stata vitale per l’industria. È vero, siamo stanchi dei meeting su Zoom, ma la connessione e l’interazione in tempo reale sono inestimabili. Questa nuova normalità rappresenta una sfida per i produttori di eventi come EmeraldX per ripensare alle modalità di creazione e condivisione dei contenuti, di connessione tra i professionisti del settore, di presentazione di nuovi prodotti e servizi. Ci siamo resi conto che le piattaforme virtuali consentono di raggiungere e coinvolgere le persone in un modo completamente nuovo. È un’opportunità da esplorare, quella di far crescere eventi ibridi, che coniughino l’esperienza in presenza con quella virtuale.
Ciò detto, indipendentemente dalla qualità dell’evento virtuale, è impossibile ricreare la magia che si crea nel ritrovarsi in persona… ci sono esperienze che non possono essere riprodotte con nessuna tecnologia. Toccare e testare prodotti di mano propria, ad esempio, è qualcosa che ai buyer manca. Sia visitatori che espositori ci dicono che non vedono l’ora di tornare a incontrarsi questo autunno a Cleveland (Ohio) in occasione di HealthCare Design Expo+Conference.

 

Intravede un trend che sta diventando particolarmente importante nei progetti healthcare a seguito dell’emergenza Covid?

Certamente una lezione che il settore ha imparato da questa crisi è l’importanza di avere spazi flessibili e adattabili nelle strutture sanitarie. Non è una novità, ma l’industria ha avuto prova dell’importanza di simili soluzioni. Infrastrutture e architetture che hanno consentito agli ospedali e gli altri complessi di modificare velocemente gli spazi per accogliere il picco di pazienti o introdurre iniziative di controllo dei contagi sono state un grande vantaggio. Le criticità che sono state messe in evidenza dalla pandemia di Covid-19 diventeranno fondamentali nella gestione di emergenze simili, quali incidenti di massa, disastri naturali, picchi di malattie stagionali come l’influenza o altre epidemie. Possiamo prevedere che le organizzazioni sanitarie avranno come priorità quella di investire in soluzioni flessibili e adattabili su progetti in fase di sviluppo.

 

 

Italian Contract 4 Hospitality Design, oltre a organizzare la partecipazione a HealthCare Design Expo+Conference (Cleveland, OH, 23-26 ottobre 2021), mette in contatto le aziende italiane con i professionisti del settore contract USA. Per leggere le altre interviste, seguite IC4HD interviews

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Debra Levin

IC4HD interviews: Debra Levin, The Center for Health Design

Debra Levin

IC4HD had the chance to get an exclusive interview with Debra Levin, President & CEO at The Center for Health Design.

Formed in 1993 as a team of forward thinkers with a vision for creating healthcare facilities that promote healthier environments for patients and staff, The Center has established a proven track record of creating, launching and delivering programs that provide true value to the healthcare design industry, along with the largest collection of healthcare design research, best practices, resources and tools for today’s most urgent and challenging healthcare design issues. Today, the community is made up of a global array of architects, interior designers, healthcare executives, healthcare professionals, researchers, product manufacturers, educators, and students, all committed to changing healthcare design for the better.

What is your pulse on healthcare design industry at the moment?

The industry is working hard to understand the best way to navigate through these uncharted waters and how to respond as an industry to the pandemic. A lot of financial resources have been put into fighting Covid and setting up testing and emergency response facilities. Many projects were initially put on hold, but some of those have been restarted in the last several weeks. I’m cautiously optimistic. Thankfully, the healthcare design industry is in a better condition than some others like hospitality. I foresee a reduction on business travel for a couple of years; you can choose whether to travel, but you cannot decide when you need to go to hospital. I can see a boom in the aging sector. Baby Boomers are growing older and have higher expectations than generations before them, so we have to create a wider variety of engaging environments for aging. When we started the Environments for Aging Expo + Conference, I suggested we call it “Environments for Healthy Aging”!

 

Can you identify any particular trend that has become increasingly important in healthcare projects due to the Covid emergency?

Not anything specific. The pandemic accelerated trends that we were already starting to see happen: from safety to infection prevention and control, and especially telemedicine.
Outside of Covid, I see much more thought and care being given to designing for mental and behavioral health as well as new models for senior living.

 

What are the most important characteristics of a supplier?

I can identify two levels of important characteristics. On the basic one, I would put honesty, openness and the capacity to build relationships with key stakeholders. On a further step, it’s important to have a unique product line offering in terms of producing something nobody else is offering – something that solves a problem or answers a need in the industry and then communicating that value properly. Also developing products using evidence-based design is a plus. Knowing what the research says and designing using that knowledge is important. That said, the attention to aesthetic and detail typical of “Made in Italy” is an advantage. Having a US presence can be significant because it makes conversations easier, and having successfully placed projects already on other projects helps break down barriers.

 

 

Italian Contract 4 Hospitality Design, besides coordinating the participation to Healthcare Design Expo + Conference (Cleveland, OH, October 23 to 26, 2021), creates connections between Italian companies and the professionals of healthcare design sector in the US. To read the series of IC4HD interviews, follow IC4HD interviews

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colori healthcare design

L’impatto dei colori sul design per l’healthcare

Montana Children's Hospital (Kalispell, MT) | Photo © Tom Harris | HealthCare Design Magazine
Montana Children's Hospital (Kalispell, MT) | Photo © Tom Harris | HealthCare Design Magazine

Il mix tra Ultimate Gray, stabile nel tempo, e il giallo vibrante di Illuminating esprime un messaggio di positività supportato da grande fortezza. Concreta e salda, ma allo stesso tempo calorosa e ottimistica, questa combinazione di colori trasmette un senso di resilienza e speranza. Abbiamo bisogno di sentirci incoraggiati e risollevati; è qualcosa di essenziale per la mente umana

spiega Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director del Pantone Color Institute.

Quanto influisce il colore sulle nostre sensazioni? Come afferma anche Pantone riguardo la scelta del Color of the Year 2021, i colori hanno effetti potenti sulla nostra salute psicologica, emotiva e, non da ultimo, fisica. Quanto più possono risentire dell’influenza dei colori le persone che si trovano in strutture sanitarie e che quindi sono più vulnerabili o fragili? Per dare vita a strutture sanitarie che siano accoglienti sia per i pazienti sia per il personale sanitario, un buon design dovrà tenere in considerazione questi aspetti del colore:

  1. Influenza: il colore può condizionare positivamente o negativamente l’ambiente di cura, ad esempio rendendolo meno istituzionale e più accogliente; basti pensare all’uso di tonalità calde per gli ospedali o i reparti pediatrici;
  2. Percezione: ambienti piacevoli, in cui il colore si armonizza all’interno del design, portano il paziente a considerare più alta la qualità delle cure ricevute;
  3. Contesto: i rumori di fondo possono essere “rimodulati” tramite un opportuno uso del colore; tonalità fredde tendono infatti a rilassare e fare quindi percepire meno il sottofondo, al contrario di tonalità calde che aumentano gli stimoli esterni;
  4. Definizione degli spazi: volumi, forme e piani possono essere meglio individuati tramite l’uso di colori contrastanti;
  5. Dimensioni degli ambienti: la percezione dell’ampiezza di uno spazio è condizionata dalla luminosità dei colori utilizzati e dagli effetti di contrasto, ad esempio tra gli oggetti e le pareti.

Questi e altri spunti interessanti sono il focus di “Color in Healthcare Environments”, uno dei webinar proposti nel ricco palinsesto di HealthCare Design Conference Virtual.

IC4HD tips:

  • Osare con colori particolari anche nei prodotti dedicati all’healthcare: un catalogo fatto solo di colori neutri rischia di risultare piatto e poco memorabile
  • Molti studi di interior design negli USA hanno un dipartimento dedicato al comparto healthcare: individuare le giuste figure di riferimento favorisce la specificazione dei prodotti all’interno dei progetti

Italian Contract 4 Hospitality Design mette in contatto le aziende italiane con i professionisti del settore healthcare negli USA, oltre a organizzare la partecipazione a HealthCare Design Expo + Conference. Per maggiori informazioni >>>

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