Marberry: What are we thinking now about Covid-19’s impact on healthcare facility design?

by Sara Marberry

A year ago, I started compiling a list of articles about how Covid-19 is changing how we think about healthcare facility design, including senior care and housing.

But the list got a little out of control.

And the thinking is evolving and changing. We know more now than we did last March.

So, I’m starting a new list to reflect more recent insights, ideas, and information — including some voices outside the healthcare facility design industry.

I’ve already shared many of these on social media. The Atlantic article about the history of air ventilation in hospitals and other buildings as an infection control strategy got over 2,000 views in my LinkedIn feed.

Hospitals & Clinics

1. What the Post-Pandemic Hospital Might Look Like. Bloomberg CityLab. February 23, 2021.
2. Healthcare Design in a Post-COVID World. Building Design + Construction. February 5, 2021.
3. The Pandemic Resilient Hospital: How Design Can Help Facilities Stay Operational and Safe. HKS. January 26, 2021.
4. Covid-19 Reshapes the Future of Hospital Design. Medical Expo e-mag, January 4, 2021.
5. Three Steps Hospitals Can Take To Better Utilize Office Space Post-Covid. Forbes, December 22, 2020.
6. Contact With Blue-Green Spaces During the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown Beneficial for Mental Health. Science of the Total Environment, November 2020.
7. The Demise of The Waiting Room as It Exists Today. Colorado Real Estate Journal, October 25, 2020.
8. Resilient Design in Healthcare Will Affect Pandemic Response. HealthTech, September 11, 2020.

Senior Living, Housing, & Residential Care

1. Top Senior Housing Trends for 2021. Senior Housing News, January 2, 2021.
2. Nursing Home Design and Covid-19: Balancing Infection Control, Quality of Life, and Resilience. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, November 2020.
3. Senior Living Scorecard Focuses Operators on Health, Wellness Strategies. McKnight’s Senior Living, October 15, 2020.
4. Is It Time to Transform Aged Care? Senior Living Foresight, October 14, 2020.

Infection Control

1. We’re Just Rediscovering a 19th-Century Pandemic Strategy. The Atlantic. February 22, 2021.
2. Power of Prevention. Healthcare Design. February 16, 2021.
3. COVID-19 Rarely Spreads Through Surfaces. So Why Are We Still Deep Cleaning? Nature. January 29, 20201.
4. To Make a Building Healthier, Stop Sanitizing Everything. Bloomberg Businessweek. December 21, 2020.
5. Ultraviolet Light Kills Coronavirus, But Caution Required. Facilities.net, November 9, 2020.

I’ll be updating this list every once and a while, so check back for the latest good stuff. And if you have an article you’d like for me to add to the list, post in the comments below or send me an email.

This column originally ran on Sara Marberry’s blog on March 12. Marberry is a healthcare design expert who has written/edited five books and is a regular contributor to Healthcare Design magazine. Marberry also is a former Executive Vice President of the nonprofit Center for Health Design.