Design Details for Health: Making the Most of Interior Design's Healing Potential (Wiley Series in Healthcare and Senior Living Design) (Hardcover)

by Cynthia A. Leibrock (Author) "This book is written on the premise that no one should have to live in a healthcare facility..." (more)
Key Phrases: sociopetal space, wayfinding cues, medical hotel, Research Abstract, New York, Jain Malkin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Using design details to improve today's health care-an inspiring, comprehensive guide

As Cynthia Leibrock writes in the Preface, "The power of a healing environment comes from the little things, the design details that empower patients to take responsibility for their own health." In Design Details for Health, she offers specific design details that can improve patient outcomes by returning authority to the patient, along with fascinating case studies and research demonstrating the positive role design details can play in reducing healthcare costs. Practical and inspiring, this innovative book is essential reading for architects, interior designers, facility managers, and healthcare professionals.

Attention to detail is the cornerstone of success in virtually every enterprise. This is especially true in the field of healthcare design, where design details can have a profound impact on the quality and efficacy of care.

In Design Details for Health, Cynthia Leibrock gives designers and other industry professionals specific examples showing how design details can offer patients greater comfort and independencewhile also giving healthcare facilities a competitive edge-saving staff time, cutting overhead costs, and reducing liability.

With the help of nearly 200 images, many in full color, she offers flexible, innovative design solutions in key areas such as lighting, acoustics, color, furnishings, and finishes. From acute carehospitals to specialized ambulatory care and home treatment settings, she addresses a variety of healthcare environments and includes inspiring case studies that reveal how effective design details work in the real world.

Throughout the book, Cynthia Leibrock presents findings from the cutting edge of design research-including results published here for the first time-reflecting the experience and expertise of hundreds of healthcare designers and architects in the United States and abroad. Covering topics ranging from acoustics to lighting, this valuable data includes citations for further reference.

When design empowers rather than disables, everybody wins. Sensitive to the needs of both patients and the providers that serve them, Design Details for Health is essential reading for today's architects, interior designers, facility managers, and healthcare professionals involved in commercial and residential healthcare facilities.

". . . this book is a reference standard with timeless value." -Wayne Ruga, Founder, The National Symposium on Healthcare Design

From the Inside Flap
Attention to detail is the cornerstone of success in virtually every enterprise. This is especially true in the field of healthcare design, where design details can have a profound impact on the quality and efficacy of care. In Design Details for Health, Cynthia Leibrock gives designers and other industry professionals specific examples showing how design details can offer patients greater comfort and independence while also giving healthcare facilities a competitive edge—saving staff time, cutting overhead costs, and reducing liability. With the help of nearly 200 images, many in full color, she offers flexible, innovative design solutions in key areas such as lighting, acoustics, color, furnishings, and finishes. From acute care hospitals to specialized ambulatory care and home treatment settings, she addresses a variety of healthcare environments and includes inspiring case studies that reveal how effective design details work in the real world. Throughout the book, Cynthia Leibrock presents findings from the cutting edge of design research—including results published here for the first time—reflecting the experience and expertise of hundreds of healthcare designers and architects in the United States and abroad. Covering topics ranging from acoustics to lighting, this valuable data includes citations for further reference. When design empowers rather than disables, everybody wins. Sensitive to the needs of both patients and the providers that serve them, Design Details for Health is essential reading for today’s architects, interior designers, facility managers, and healthcare professionals involved in commercial and residential healthcare facilities.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (November 29, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471241946
• ISBN-13: 978-0471241942
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #410,780 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent hands-on resource for Interior Designers, August 14, 2000

By A Customer

I am a professional Health Care interior designer who is always looking for resources to enhance my knowledge base for creating healing enviornments in the health care market. A few years ago I attended, along with about 300 other designers, a presentation by a nationally known health care designer. At the end of the 1.5 hr. lecture, there were six of us left. The focus of the talk was entirely philosophical: there were no gems of knowledge or tools we could take back to our design practices to make our projects better. Ms. Leibrock certainly doesn't have to worry about anyone leaving her presentation. The book has been delegated to my reference shelf and I am sure will become dog-earred.

The specific types of healing environments included in the book range from birthing centers to long-term care facilities and all that is in-between. The philosophical issues are presented and then followed by research findings and case studies which support those concepts. Then the GEMS! Lists and lists and lists of hands-on guidelines which are distilled from the vast experience and research of the author.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Comprehensive Reference Book for Interior Designers working in HealthCare, July 9, 2008

By	H. Domke (New Bloomfield, MO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

How long does a book remain useful after it is published? Most books, especially reference books don't last. "Design Details for Health" seems fresh even thought it has been a decade since it first came out. As Wayne Ruga said: ". . . this book is a reference standard with timeless value."

Granted, nowhere in the book will you see the term "Evidence-based Design" used, because that phrase was not in widespread use a decade ago. But the book is packed with useful ideas that would be of real value to Interior Designers working on HealthCare projects.

In 300 pages Ms. Leibrock covers the entire field of Healthcare in depth. Long-term care, Subacture Care, Ambulatory Care and Inpatient Hospitals each gets a section with several chapters. The writing is clear and very practical. Frequent references to "real world" projects are given with pictures and floor plans.

Summary:

* Great Comprehensive Reference Book for Interior Designers working in HealthCare

Pros:

* Practical advice that is easy to access.

* A well constructed book with high quality paper.

Cons

* Very little about the use of Art in Healthcare

* Lots of floor plans and useful photographs, but only a few are in color.

Ms. Leibrock is the principal/founder of EASY ACCESS TO HEALTH (www.AgingBeautifully.org) in Ft. Collins, Colorado, a firm that offers consulting services in patient centered design, planning for independent living. She was selected as a Changemaker in 2002 by the Center for Health Design.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars never receive this item...where is it>>>?, July 31, 2008

By	Brian Defrancesca (Asia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Is it just me - or do other people pay for things and never get them?