Anjali Joseph, Director of the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing (CHFDT), shared her healthcare design experience in an article published in the April 2024 Special Edition of Construction & Design. In the article, Joseph discusses lessons learned over decades of researching, testing and helping to implement healthcare design solutions. She emphasized the point that human centered elements that focus on patients and staff lead to safer spaces and better outcomes.
Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing
Doctoral Student Sara Kennedy Receives 2023-2024 Arthur N. Tuttle Jr. Graduate Fellowship in Health Facility Planning
Sara Kennedy, doctoral student working with Anjali Joseph at the Center for Health Facilities Design & Testing, received the 2023-2024 Arthur N. Tuttle Jr. Graduate Fellowship in Health Facility Planning from the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) to support her dissertation research. She is studying the impact of the built environment on workflows and team communication during robotic-assisted surgery. The Tuttle fellowship aims to advance graduate students’ knowledge of planning and design for healthcare environments, resulting in a research-informed design approach and proposal. Sara received $8,600 through this award to support the completion of her dissertation study.
CHFDT Receives 2023 Touchstone Award in Platinum Category
The Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing (CHFDT) recently received the 2023 Touchstone Award in the Platinum Category through the Center for Health Design (CHD) for their project, Realizing Improved Patient Care through Human-centered Design in the Operating Room (RIPCHD.OR). The RIPCHD.OR project was awarded its first Touchstone Award in the Gold Category in 2017. This award recognizes using an evidence-based design (EBD) process to increase value, improve outcomes, and engage stakeholders.
CHFDT Presents Patient Room Design Work at Healthcare Design Conference in New Orleans, LA.
Anjali Joseph, Sahar Mihandoust, doctoral student Monica Gripko and doctoral candidate Swati Goel, all with the Center for Health Facilities Design & Testing (CHFDT), presented “Patient Room Design: Engaging Clnical Teams Through Simulation-Based Evaluation and Design” on November 5, 2023 at the Healthcare Design Conference in New Orleans, LA. The presentation reviewed the work of the team with Indiana University Health, project background, methodology and outlined the benefits of the multi-phase evaluation process. Evaluation and design partners for the project include Clemson University and Indiana University Health.
CHFDT Presents Physical Environment Considerations for Robotic Surgery at Conference in New Orleans, LA.
Anjali Joseph and doctoral student Sara Kennedy, both with the Center for Health Facilities Design & Testing (CHFDT), presented “Physical Environment Considerations for the Future of Robotic Surgery” on November 7, 2023 at the Healthcare Design Conference in New Orleans, LA. The presentation reviewed the aims of the project, methodology, design considerations for Architects and the operating room environment. The project is funded by the National Science Foundation. Project partners include Clemson University and Prisma Health.
Doctoral Candidate Swati Goel Receives 2023-2024 Griffin/McKahan/Zilm (GMZ) Fellowship
Swati Goel, doctoral candidate working with Anjali Joseph at the Center for Health Facilities Design & Testing, recently received the 2023-2024 Griffin/McKahan/Zilm (GMZ) Fellowship from the Foundation for Health Environments Research (FHER), the 2023-24 Doctoral Dissertation Completion Grant, and an Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship from the Graduate School and the Office of the Vice President for Research at Clemson University to support her dissertation studies. She is studying how the built environment of a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) influences family and staff participation in family-centered rounds (FCRs) every morning. The GMZ award aims to encourage research related to the design, programming, and planning of healthcare facilities and is focused on Doctoral and master’s Students, Junior Faculty, and Emerging Professionals in Healthcare Facility Design. Swati received $9,000 through this award to support her dissertation research.
Doctoral Student Devi Soman Receives 2023 Joseph G. Sprague New Investigator Award
Devi Soman, doctoral student working with Anjali Joseph at the Center for Health Facilities Design & Testing (CHFDT), received the 2023 Joseph G. Sprague New Investigator Award for her dissertation study on “The Impact of Free-Standing Birth Center (FSBC) Physical Environments on the Patient Experiences and Maternal Health Outcomes for Racially and Ethnically Diverse Women.” The award provides funding of $10,000 for her research that will help support data collection and travel to her study sites.
RIPCHD.PED Project – Pediatric Mental and Behavioral Health in the ED Workshop 2023
The Center for Health Facilities Design & Testing (CHFDT) in collaboration with Prisma Health held the “Pediatric Mental and Behavioral Health in the ED” workshop on September 11, 2023. The workshop was conducted as part of the AHRQ funded patient safety learning lab, ‘Realizing Improved Patient Care through Human-centered Design for Pediatric mental and behavioral health in the Emergency Department (RIPCHD.PED)’. The event involved project stakeholders, including research team members, affiliated faculty and students, technical and clinical advisory committee members, and external experts. The workshop facilitated hands-on brainstorming activities and discussions. The CHFDT team shared findings from the first year of the project and through activities and discussion engaged attendees to help brainstorm ideas and prioritize interventions for the next year. The research team will prioritize the design and development activities to be undertaken by the RIPCHD.PED learning lab in years 2 and 3 of the project. The purpose of the RIPCHD.PED project is to develop safer, more human-centered ED work systems for pediatric mental and behavioral health care that minimizes patient stressors while improving provider well-being.
Pediatric VR Tours
The project seeks to design and evaluate highly realistic virtual healthcare environments so that children scheduled for gastro-intestinal (GI) procedures and their parents can experience visual and auditory environments that they will encounter on the day of surgery. The overall goal of the project is to help pediatric patients and their parents overcome the environmental triggers of anxiety and stress prior to surgery. Through VR, these patients and their parents gain firsthand experiences of preoperative, operative, and postoperative environments they will encounter on the day of their procedure. Additionally, their input about the rooms they experience will help in the design of future surgery environments. Collaborators: Prisma Health and Clemson University. PI: Anjali Joseph. Project period: 2021-2022
Adapting to the Future of Robotic Surgery: Understanding Training and Design Environments for Human-Robot Teams
The Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing (CHFDT) research team is working on a National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant with Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering Jackie Cha entitled, “Adapting to the Future of Robotic Surgery: Understanding Training and Design Environments for Human-Robot Teams.” The major goals of this NSF funded project include developing a framework for designing work and workplaces to support the future of robotic surgery. Project period: 2022-2023
